|||||I|||||| US005602382A United States Patent (19) 11 Patent Number: 5,602,382 Ulvret al. (45) Date of Patent: Feb. 11, 1997
54 MAIL PIECE BAR CODE HAVING A DATA 152648 8/1983 Canada. CONTENT DENT FER 1173962 9/1984 Canada 202929 4/986 Canada. (75) Inventors: Joseph Ulvr, Carp; Adrian T. S. C. E. SN, Kho, Kanata, both of Canada 2019956 12/1990 Canada.a . (73 Assignee: Canada Post Corporation, Ontario, 2006898 6/1991 Canada. Canada (List continued on next page.) (21) Appl. No.: 331,955 OTHER PUBLICATIONS 1. M. Mansour, "Multi-Tiered Condensed Bar Code', vol. 26, (22 Filed: Oct. 31, 1994 No. 2, Jul. 1983 (IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin). (51) int. Cl...... G06K 19/06 R. E. Blahut, K. Jones, J. A. Fairless, "A Damage Resistant (52) U.S. Cl...... 235/494; 235/463: 235/462; Bar Code for the Royal Mail", pp. 49–54; IBM 156. s 235/456; 235/375; 371/37.1 Primary Examiner-Donald T. Hajec (58 Field of Search ...... 235/494, 463, Assistant Examiner-Michael G. Lee 235/462, 456, 375; '65, as Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Wenderoth, Lind & Ponack (57) ABSTRACT (56) References Cited A bar code for mail pieces uses bars each of which has four U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS possible states. Two different bars indicate the start of the code and the same two bars in the same order indicate the 33,39we-vs Agg Sasreadwell, Jr. III ...... 235/61.12371/37.1 end of the code. Aa data content identifier follows the start 4,742,521 5/1988 Nishida ...... 378 bars and this indicates the structure and length of the 4.852099 7/1989 Ozaki. 371/37 following data field so that when the code is read it will be 4,864,112 9/1989 Imai et al...... 235/463 recognized and read properly. The use of the data content 4,874,936 10/1989 Chandler et al...... 235/494 identifier allows the code to be used for different customer 4,896,029 1/1990 Chandler et al...... 235/494 and Post Office applied applications in which the code 4,972,475 11/1990 Sant'Anselmo ...... 380/54 structure, length and content varies. The data field may 4,998.010 3/1991 Chandler et al...... 235/494. contain a postal code with or without an address locator, a SE 1932; E. o 25. machine ID, customer information and service information. 5070504 12/1991 E. al. ... 371/54 The code may include a country code field for mail pieces 5,095,484 3/1992 Smeiser. "371/3 that are being mailed to a different country. The code may 5,107,503 4/1992 Riggle et al...... 371/37.1 also include a field indicating whether the codeword is - complete or whether it has to be concatenated with a (List continued on next page.) preceding or subsequent codeword. Error protection in all cases is provided by a Reed-Solomon parity field following FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS the data field. For customer applied codes this parity field 984971 3/1976 Canada. may be made shorter than for Post Office applied codes 998.474 10/1976 Canada. because the potential for error in printing the code by the 1003966 f1977 Canada. customer is less in view of the fact that he has more control 1004767 2/1977 Canada. over the paper quality, colour, extraneous markings, etc. 070837 1/1980 Canada. 120884 3/1982 Canada. 1145847 5/1983 Canada. 27 Claims, 5 Drawing Sheets
Start | DC Postal Code AL Customer information | RSParity Stop N- N- N- N N N-- N-- 2barS 3barS 15 barS 12 bars 33 bars 12 bars 2 bars l l eg. I - C 5,602,382 Page 2
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 5,475,716 12/1995 Huang ...... 371/37.1 X 5,124,536 6/1992 Priddy et al. . ... 235/432 5,479,515 12/1995 Longacre, Jr...... 235/463 X 5,126,542 6/1992 Priddy et al. . 235/.456 5,153,929 10/1992 Itagaki ...... 382765 FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
yeE. was 1942: Ossenet al. et ....al...... 371/37.7 371/54 2020475 6/1991 Canada. 5,168,509 12/1992 Nakamura et al...... 375/39 2022269 7/1991 Canada. 5,206,490 4/1993 Petigrew et al. .. 235/462 291247 10/1991 Canada. 5,226,932 7/1993 Prasad ...... 55/16 1293806 11/1991 Canada. 5,235,172 8/1993. Oehlmann ...... 235/494 1295744 2/1992 Canada. 5,280,488 1/1994 Glover et al. . 37/37.1 1305257 7/1992 Canada. 5,288,976 2/1994 Citron et al...... 235/375 1306807 8/1992 Canada. 5,298,731 3/1994 Ett ...... 235/494 311842 12/1992 Canada. 5,304.786 4/1994 Pavlidis et al. ... 235/462 2063.03 9/1993 Canada. 5,324,927 6/1994 Willians ...... 235/494 2095508 11/1993 Canada 5,420,403 5/1995 Allum et al...... 235/375 2140948 12/1984 United Kingdom. U.S. Patent Feb. 11, 1997 Sheet 1 of 5 5,602,382
FIG.1b) U.S. Patent Feb. 11, 1997 Sheet 2 of 5 5,602,382
FIG.2b
Start | DC Postal Code RSParity Machine ID Stop S-- -- N- N- N- -- 2barS 3barS 15 barS 30 bars 4 barS 2 barS li llllllllllllllllllllllllll ill eg. I - 7 KAOB1 O97 W FIG. 3
Start DCI Postal Code AL Customer Information RSParity Stop N- N- N- -- N- N- S-- 2barS 3barS 15 barS 12 bars 33 bars 12 bars 2 bars l l |al Illllllllllllllll te l eg. - C L3B 49 1420 CFFMPLXF6V m ma FIG. 4a U.S. Patent Feb. 11, 1997 5,602,382
U.S. Patent Feb. 11, 1997 Sheet 4 of 5 5,602,382
| Start CC CC Postal Code RSParity Stop -- N- S-- N- N- N 2barS 3 barS 6 bars 24bars 12 bars 2 bars
awal |al18O Allel91266 m FIG. 5
| Start DCI CC Postal Code Customer Information RSParity Stop N- -- N- -- N-- N- N 2barS 3barS 6 barS 24bars 30 bars 12 barS 2 bars
l C Ill216 IslinHA97PP FFMPL659W l m F.G. 11
| Start | BC: I BCS Service information | RSParity Stop N-- N- N- -- N- N 2barS 3 barS 3 barS 57 bars 12 bars 2 bars
an Sl |O It allABCDEFGH123456789 m a FIG. 6 U.S. Patent Feb. 11, 1997 Sheet 5 of 5 5,602.382 Start | DC Postal Code RSParity Stop N- N- N- N- N 3 bars 3 bars 15 bars 12 bars 2 bars li || || ||||Ill th l eg. I - A K1A7R8 maa FIG. 7
| Start DCI Postal Code AL | Space RSParity Stop -- N- N- N- N- -- N 2 bars 3 barS 15 barS 12 barS 3 barS 12 bars 2 bars || ||||Illlllllll || |al l eg. I - I B K1A 4S2 1234 - I - I - FIG. 8
Start | DC SI RSParity Stop S-- N- N- N- S-- 2barS 3 barS 15 barS 12 barS 2 bars
eg. I - lU ABC12 |al l FIG. 9
Start | DCI Service information RSParity Stop N- N- -- N- N 2bars 3 bars 30 bars 12 barS 2 barS li | | | ||||Illllllllll |al l eg. third T ABCDE12345 w s FIG. 10 5,602.382 1. 2 MAL PECE BAR CODE HAVING ADATA cessing of the mail piece, the bar codeword having a CONTENT DENTIFIER plurality of parallel bars each of which has a state selected BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION from a plurality of possible states. The bar codeword com prises a start field followed by a data content identifier (DCI) This invention relates to bar codes used in the processing field specifying the structure of the codeword followed by at of mail pieces. least one data field, followed by a Reed-Solomon parity In many countries a postal code is used to facilitate field, followed by a stop field. automation in sorting. In Canada, the postal code contains In one embodiment of the invention, as in Blahut, bars three alphabetic characters (letters) interleaved with three which have four possible states are used but the invention is numeric characters (numbers) while in the U.S.A. the zip 10 code consists of five numbers. If a customer has applied the not limited to the use of a four state code. postal code to an envelope this is converted by an optical The data field may contain different types of information character reader (O.C.R.) and computer in the Post Office to depending on the application. For example, it may contain a a bar code which is then printed on the envelope. If the postal code in the ANANAN format where A is an alpha customer has not applied the postal code, this will be betical character and N is a numerical character. The A's are generated in the Post Office and the bar code will be printed each represented by three bars and the N's are each repre on the envelope as before. sented by two bars. It is also becoming more usual for the large corporate The use of the start and stop bars provides an indication customer to apply the postal code in bar code format. A bar of correct orientation and direction of reading in a single code is used because it is easier to read automatically than 20 efficient manner. alphanumeric characters. Not only postal (sortation and sequencing) data can be The British Post Office (BPO) has developed a 4 state bar encoded but also customer data to support the creation of code. The four possible states are one which comprises only value added products and services selectable by the cus a tracker element, one which comprises a tracker element tomer at the time of printing the mail pieces. and an ascender element, one which comprises a tracker 25 The new coding is space efficient because in a preferred element and a descender element and one which comprises embodiment it encodes characters in 3 bars with the numer a tracker element, an ascender element and a descender ics in the CPC postal code using only 2 bars each. element. These elements will be described in detail herein The code is highly damage resistant and provides varying below. levels of error correction appropriate to the application. For The BPO code uses four bars to represent each alphanu 30 example, more error correction is provided in the internal meric character but for error protection each character must applied codes than the customer applied codes. have two ascenders and two descenders which limits the The invention also enables in a specific embodiment the number of possible combinations to 36. Error detection is concatenation of multiple bar codes. dealt with by including a check sum. The BPO code is intended to be printed by customers (mailers) to encode 35 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS sortation information. The BPO code uses a single bar to indicate the start of the FIG. 1a illustrates the basic elements of the four state code and a different single bar to indicate the end of the code used in a preferred embodiment of the invention; code. The start/stop bars in the BPO code can easily be FIG. 1b illustrates the minimum and maximum dimen confused and can result in decoding of an upside down bar 40 sions of the bars used in the four state code; code. FIGS. 2a to 2d illustrate how the code pattern or the A paper entitled "A Damage Resistant Bar Code for the individual bars within the code may be skewed; Royal Mail" by Blahut et al., 1992 discusses an improvement FIG. 3 illustrates a typical bar code employing the inven of the BPO bar code which essentially makes the BPO code 45 tion; more robust by adding Reed-Solomon error correction to FIG. 4a illustrates another example of a bar code employ handle missing bars (erasures) and bar print errors. The ing the invention; encoding is based on codewords of two bars each-aleft and FIG. 4b illustrates a bar code similar to that of FIG. 4a in right codeword-and the interleaving of the codewords to which the customer field has been broken down into sub form a bar code. Blahut has also identified some decoding 50 fields; and logic to recover from missing or incorrect bars and over come the weakness of the start/stop pattern with decoding FIGS. 5 through 11 illustrate further examples of bar logic. The Blahut Code is intended to be printed by the Post codes employing the invention. Office as an internal code and only postal sortation data is encoded. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED 55 EMBODIMENTS It is an object of the present invention to improve on the BPO and Blahut codes by offering a robust code which is Referring to FIG. 1, the basic elements of the printed four sufficiently flexible that it may be applied by the Post Office state code are four vertical bars which differ in length and/or or the customer and which can be used not only for the postal starting point with respect to the horizontal. code but for route sequencing, track and tracing, revenue 60 More particularly, there is a full height bar H which is the accounting and other customer information as well as cus longest of the four bars and extends between lower and tomer service information such as return mail management, upper horizontal references R and R2, respectively. The bar automated data entry of customer information and the like. immediately to the right of bar His a bar D which is greater SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION than half of the height of bar H and extends from above the 65 mid-point of bar H down to the level of reference R. According to a broad aspect of the invention, a mail piece Immediately to the right of bar D is a bar A which has the bears a bar codeword containing information for the pro same height as bar D but extends from below the mid-point 5,602,382 3 4 of bar H up to the level of reference R. The final element The PostBar applications are as follows: is a bar T which is centred about the mid-point of bar H and which has a height represented by the overlap of bars A and D. Domestic Global Service Internal Another way of defining bars H, D, A and T is in terms of PostBar)07 PostBar.G12 PostBarS06 PostBarC10 the three basic elements, Tracker, Ascender and Descender PostBarD12 PostBar...G22 PostBar.S11 shown in FIG. 1a. The Tracker element is a short element PostBarD22 PostBarS21 centred exactly between the lower and upper references R. and R. The Ascender and Descender elements are identical Let us consider in detail PostBarC10 to illustrate how the in length, the Ascender extending upwardly from the upper 10 four state code is applied. The format of this code is limit of the Tracker to reference R and the Descender illustrated in FIG. 3. This may be summarized as follows: extending downwardly from the lower limit of the Tracker to reference R. The Tracker is present in all of the four bars. In the Tbar DATA FIELD BARS DATA CHARACTERS the Tracker is the only element, the D bar consists of Tracker 15 Start/synchronization 2 and Descender, the A bar consists of Tracker and Ascender Data Content Identifier (DCI) 3 Z. and the H bar consists of the Tracker, Ascender and Postal code (FSA LDU) 15 ANANAN RS Parity Check 30 Descender. The four possible bars and their assigned Machine ID 4 BBBB numerical values can be summarized as follows: Stop/synchronization 2 20 BAR ELEMENTS WALUE Total 56 T Tracker 3 D Tracker and Descender 2 The data characters are denoted A, N, Z and B. A is an A Tracker and Ascender 1. alphabetic character and is denoted by 3 bars, N is a numeric H Tracker, Ascender and Descender O 25 character and is denoted by 2 bars, Z is an alphanumeric (i.e., either alphabetic or numeric) character and is denoted The maximum and minimum permissible dimensions of by 3 bars and B is 1 bar. elements A, D, H, T and bar width X are indicated in FIG. Table 1 shows the encoding for the “A” and "N' charac 1b where the maximum bar outlines are the shaded portions, ters and Table 2 shows the encoding for the “Z” characters. and are summarized below: 30 TABLE 1. "A CHARACTERS 'N' CHARACTERS Minimum Maximum Letter Bars Number Bars Element in. l in. 35 T 1.0 0.04 1.6 0.06 A ... HHD O ... HH A 2.6 0.10 3.7 0.145 D 2.6 0.10 3.7 0,145 H 4.2 0.165 5.8 0.23 B ...... HAH 1 ...... HA X (bar width) 0.4 0.015 0.6 0.025 bar gap 0.4 0.015 40 C ...... HAA 2 ... HD Note: The minimum gap between bars takes priority over all other dimensions. D ... HAD 3 ...... AH The bar density should be around 20-24 bars per 25.4 mm. FIG. 2 illustrates two types of skew that can occur 45 E ... HDH 4 AA when printing bar codes. FIGS. 2a and 2b illustrate code skew C. in which the entire code pattern is skewed with * ... + 1. HDA 5 . . . . AD respect to the bottom edge of the mail piece and FIGS. 2c and 2d illustrate bar skew f in which individual bars are skewed with respect to the centreline of the code pattern. 50 G ... HDD 6 it . DH For code skew the acceptable limit is less than +5° from the horizontal and for bar skew the limit is less than-5 from H ... HHA 7 . . . DA the vertical. It is possible for both types of skew to occur on a single item and in that case the total skew tol+B should be I ... AHA 8 it DD less than 5. 55 Canada Post Corporation (CPC) proposes using the basic four state bar code in different applications. The term J ... AHD 9 ..+ TH PostBar has been coined by CPC to refer to the basic four state barcode and the letters xyz appear after the designation K ...... AAH PostBar where 60 X S L AAA "D" for domestic (Canada) applications "G” for global (international) applications M ... HHH "C" for CPC internal applications and 65 "S" for service applications. N .. 4 - ADH "yz' specifies the number of characters in the bar code. 5,602,382 5 6 TABLE 1-continued TABLE 2-continued "A CHARACTERS 'N' CHARACTERS 'Z' CHARACTERS Letter Bars Number Bars 5 Symbol Bars . . . . ADA K ... + ... AHA . . . . ADD 10 L . . . l.. AHD Q DHH M + i. AAH t . N AAA R DHA ...... 15 O AAD S DHD + ...... P ADH T ... t. DAH . . . . . 20 Q ... + i. ADA U . DAA . . . . . R AEDD V . . . . DAD . . . .
25 S -- DHH W DDH t . T . . . . DHA X . . . . DDA U DHD Y DDD 30 . . . . t . . . V DAH Z ... AHH . . . . W ...... DAA 35 TABLE 2 X ...... DAD "Z CHARACTERS Y ...... DDH Symbol Bars 40 Space ...... HHT Z. . . . . DDA
A HHH O . . . . DDD t . . . 45 B ...... HHA 1 . . . . THH C ... + . . . HHD 2 . . it - THA D ...... HAH 50 3 . . . . THD E ... + . . . HAA 4 t . TAH
F ...... HAD 55 5 . . tl.. . TAA G + . . . HDH 6 . . t. . TAD H ...... HDA 60 7 t . TDH I ... + . . . HDD 8 it TDA
TDD J ...... AHH 65 9 ... +it 1 . 5,602,382 7 8 Note that the encoding shown in Table 1 is used only for the postal code mapping. As seen in Table 1 only the 9 digit ADHA 1 x 43 + 2 x 42 + Ox 4 + 1 x 40 contains the tracking element T which because of its size is 64 + 32 + 0 + 1 sc 097 the most likely of the four elements to be obscured or 5 Turning now to FIG. 4a, this illustrates the format of missing. This minimization of the occurrence of the T bars PostBar.D22 which uses a (25,21). Reed-Solomon code over provides extra security for the Postal Code. GF(64). PostBar.D22 is a customer applied bar code for With regard to the "B" bars, these are used only for the domestic Canadian applications. The data structure may be Machine ID and can be decoded using a quadral represen summarized as follows: tation with 'n' as the number of bars in the data block and 10 'V' as the value of each bar in the following equation: DATA FIELD BARS DATA CHARACTERS Startisynchronization 2 Data Content Indentifier 3 Z The bar values (V) are assigned as follows: H=0; A=1; (DCI) D=2; T-3 15 Postal code (FSA LDU) 15 ANANAN Address Locator (AL) 12 ZZZZ, e.g. ADHA 1 x 43 + 2 x 42 + 0 x 4 + 1 x 40 Customer Information 33 ZZZZZZZZZZZ RS Parity Check 12 64 + 32 + 0 + 1 = 097 Stop/synchronization 2
For 4 bars, the maximum value is: 20 Total 79 TTTT-3x64+3x16+3x4+3x1=225 As for the PostBar.C10 code discussed above, data char acter A is an alphabetic character denoted by 3 bars, N is a Referring to the various data fields shown in FIG. 3, the numeric character denoted by 2 bars and Z is an alphanu first field is START which comprises an A bar followed by 25 meric character denoted by 3 bars. Table 1 shows the a Tbar. The last field is STOP which also comprises an Abar encoding for the “A” and "N" characters and Table 2 shows followed by a T bar. This sequence provides all orientation the encoding for the “Z” characters. or direction of flow of the code so that an upside down label Referring to the various data fields shown in FIG. 4a, the or letter inserted backwards can be identified immediately. start and stop fields, the DCI field and the Postal code fields The sequence also provides an additional marker for syn 30 are identical to the corresponding fields in the PostBarC10 chronization and a unique identifier so that the code can be code. In the particular example shown, by consulting Table recognized immediately. 2 it will be seen the DCI corresponds to the letter C and by The next field is the DCI (Data Content Identifier) which consulting Table 1 it will be seen the Postal code corre specifies the structure and the number of data elements sponds to L3B 4T9. within the bar code. When a bar code reader decodes a DCI 35 When the DCI is a C this specifies that there are 21 it will know how to decode the remaining data elements. The decodable characters which follow in the form of the postal DCI can be either an alphabetic or numeric character ("Z" code (ANANAN), address locator (ZZZZ) and 11 customer character) encoded using three bars according to Table 2. data characters (ZZZZZZZZZZZ). Within CPC the DCI's are assigned in the following way: Unlike PostBarC10, PostBarD22 does not have a 1-9 Reserved for global (international) applications 40 Machine ID field as the printer applying the code is not a CPC (Canada Post Corporation) machine and is, therefore, A-L Reserved for domestic (Canada) applications of no real interest. M-U Reserved for service applications PostBar.D22 has two fields, namely AL and Customer V-Z Reserved for internal applications. Information, not present in PostBarC10. The field AL is an The DCI illustrated in FIG. 3 comprises two D bars 45 address locator field which consists of 12 bars and appears followed by one Abar and from Table 2 this corresponds to immediately to the right of the Postal Code. The Customer the letter Z. When the DCI is a Z this specifies that there are Information field follows and this has 33 bars. These fields 6 decodable characters in the form ANANAN for sortation are encoded according to alphanumeric Table 2 and so there and a binary machine ID in the form BBBB. are 4 characters for the AL field and 11 for the Customer This does in fact correspond with FIG. 3 where the next 50 Information field. field is the postal code which in Canada is constructed as Reference should be made to U.S. patent application Ser. alternate alphabetic/numerical characters ANANAN with No. 888,905 filed on May 26, 1992 and assigned to Canada each letter being formed by 3 bars and each number formed Post Corporation, which application is incorporated hereby of 2 bars as shown in Table 1. The postal code thus consists by reference, for a further explanation of the AL and of 15 bars. By consulting Table 1, it can be seen the postal 55 Customer Information fields. More particularly and in brief, code in the example illustrated in FIG. 3 is K1A 0B1. the AL field, referred to in the earlier application as PODI The next field is the Reed-Solomon Parity Check con (Point of Delivery Indicator) is a suffix to the postal code sisting of 30 bars comprising 10 alphanumeric characters Z. which is determined from the address on the mail piece as The RS code chosen is a (16,6) Reed-Solomon code over well as the Postal code. The postal code together with the AL GF(64) which can correct 5 symbol errors and up to 10 60 allows a mail piece to be sorted for delivery to the specific symbol erasures (30 bars). That is, more than half the bar address. The term POCI (Point of Call Identifier) has been code could be missing and the remaining bar code would coined for the combination (Postal Code--the Address Loca still be successfully decoded. The error correcting capability tor). of this RS code will be discussed in greater detail below. It is noted that the RS Parity field in PostBar.D22 consists The next field is the Machine ID field which identifies the 65 of only 12 bars in contrast to the 30 bars of PostBarC10. particular machine which applied the bar code. The four bars This is because more protection is needed for Post BarC10 shown in this example are: than for PostBarD22. This results from the fact that the 5,602,382 10 PostBarC10 is a code printed by CPC on mail pieces which -continued have a great variety of surfaces and background and so there is a likelihood of background noise from extraneous printing DATA FIELD BARS DATA CHARACTERS or marking. On the other hand PostBarD22 is applied by the RS Parity Check 12 customer who has greater control over the printing surface Stop/synchronization 2 and so there is less potential for background noise. Total 79 From a consideration of Table 2 it can be seen that, for the specific example shown for PostBar.D22, the AL is 1420, As for PostBar.G12 discussed above all the data charac and the Customer Information is CFFMIPLXF6V. From a ters are Z characters obtained from Table 2. The DCI is consideration of Table 1 the postal code converts to L3B 10 determined from Table 2 to be S and this specifies that there 4T9. follows as data a 19 character (57 bars) Service Information FIG. 4b shows how the Customer Information field of field which in this case translates to ABCDEF FIG. 4a may be broken down into sub-fields. In FIG. 4b the GHIJ123456789 from Table 2. There is no routing data field bars are not shown. The customer data can be broken into 15 because this code is used for special services required by a sub-fields such as those shown. The Product Code identifies customer. For example the Service Information field could be used for return mail management or to provide other the specific customer, the Sequence Number identifies the information useful to the customer. batch mailed on a particular day and the Month and Day of Between the DCI field and the Service Information field Month are self-explanatory. This information uniquely iden is a Bar Code Sequencer (BCS) field which is a single tifies a mail piece and allows track and trace of the mail 20 character consisting of 3 bars that allows the concatenation piece as well as revenue accounting for example. of two bar codes to encode data longer than 19 characters. The numbers in the brackets represent the number of When a single 19 character code is used the BCS is DDD combinations possible for each sub-field. which from Table 2 is 0. To indicate the first of two FIG. 5 illustrates an example of an International or Global concatenated barcodes the BCS would be chosen to be 1 and code, PostBar.G12 which would be used when the mail 25 to indicate the second of two concatenated bar codes the piece is addressed to another country. This is a (15,11) BCS would be chosen to equal 2. Reed-Solomon code over GF(64). The format may be sum The operation of the error correcting code (ECC) for marized as follows: PostBarC10 (FIG. 3) and for PostBarD22 (FIG. 4a) will now be discussed in greater detail. The error correcting code (ECC) for Post BarC10 protects DATA FIELD BARS DATA CHARACTERS 30 the postal code and DCI but not the machine ID. The ECC Start/synchronization 2 is a (16, 6) Reed-Solomon code defined over the field Data Content Identifier (DCI) 3 Z GF(64) with 64 elements. Precisely, the defining roots of the Country Code (CC) 6 NNN code are of for i=1,2,..., 10 where o. is a root of X+X+1. Postal code 24 ZZZZZZZZ RS Parity Check 12 35 Each codeword consists of 6 message (or information) Stop/synchronization 2 symbols and 10 check symbols. Each symbol is an element of GF(64) and is represented by 3 bars. The ECC can correct Total 49 up to t symbols with errors and e erased symbols as long as *Unused characters in the postal code field will be filled with space charac 2t+es 10. For example, since each symbol corresponds to 3 ters. bars, an erasure of 30 consecutive bars is correctable. One 40 should be aware that if there are e=10 erased symbols then The DCI is determined from Table 2 to be 1 and this there is no way for the code to detect any additional errors. specifies that there are 11 decodable characters that follow in Any other error in addition to these 10 will force a decoding the form of a three numeric character country code (NNN) error. (The constant erase max in the software can be set and an 8 character postal code (ZZZZZZZZ). less than 10 to stay away from this possibility.) It is noted that in this code no A or N characters of Table 45 The error correcting code for PostBarD22 covers all of 1 are used for the Postal Code. Also, a new field, namely the fields except the start and stop bars. The code is a (25, Country Code, is present and as can be seen by consulting 21) Reed–Solomon code defined over GF(64). It can correct Table 1, for the specific example shown this translates to 180 terrors and e erasures in the symbols of the code as long as which may, for example, identify the USA. The postal code 2t+es4. As before, each code symbol corresponds to 3 bars. or zip code is determined from Table 2 to be 91266 followed 50 The code uses 4 check symbols which contribute 12 bars to by three spaces. For the U.S.A. only 15 bars are needed for the code. the ZIP code but the field is provided with 24 bars because The error correcting code specified for each of the bar other countries require more than 5 characters for the postal codes is a Reed-Solomon code over the field GF(64) with 64 code. elements. We use a primitive element or of the field GF(64) FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a customer applied 55 which is a root of X+X+1 (over GF(2)). This means that the service code, PostBar.S21 which is a (25,21). Reed-Solomon 63 powers of, for i=0, 1,..., 62 are the 63 distinct non-zero code over GF(64) having a data structure summarized as elements of the field. Also the 6 elements o', o', O, O, O, follows: or form a linear basis for the field GF(64). Thus each 60 element w of GF(64) has a unique expression as a sum, DATA FELD BARS DATA CHARACTERS Start/synchronization 2 Data Content Identifier 3 Z (DCI) where each w-0 or 1. By using the identity O'=O+1 any Bar Code Sequencer 3 Z. power of O. can be expressed in the form (). (BCS) 65 The translation from bar to field elements is accomplished Service information (SI) 57 ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ by grouping the bars in sets of three. Each bar corresponds to a pattern of 2 bits: 5,602,382 11 12 H=00, A-01, D=10, T-11 The coded portion is divided into blocks of three bars. A set of three bars corresponds to 6 bits which we take as Each block represents one element of the field. The ECC the values of w in the expression (*). So for example, runs from right to left across the bars. We set c=ba bas 5 3ib49-3. Thus we have: Table 3 displays the correspondence between bar patterns and field elements. In the encoding and decoding software the field elements are represented as integers in the range 0 to 63, (thus as 6 bits). For example, the element of', above, 10 which has bit pattern 111011 corresponds to the integer 59 Start C15 C14 C1 CO machine ID stop which is 111011 in binary (59–32+16+8+2+1). In Table 3, the column int gives the integer corresponding to each field Using these 16 elements co, . . element in this way. ., cs of GF(64) the ECC 15 is defined by specifying that a codeword must satisfy: TABLE 3 15 (**) bars i o int bars i o int i0X coll = 0 for j = 1,2,..., 10
HHH :k: 000000 O DAA 31 100101 37 HHA 0 000001 1. HDA 32 001001 9 20 The equation represents 10 equations with 10 unknown HHD 1. 00000 2 AHD 33 0.0010 18 HAH 2 000100 4 DAH 34 100100 16 coefficients which is solved by the computer bar code HDH 3 001000 8 HDT 35 001011 11 generating software. AHH 4 O10000 16 AAD 36 010110 22 DHH 5 100000 32 DTH 37 101100 44 Using the symbology defined above, we record the postal HHT 6 000011 3 ADT 38 011011 27 25 HAD 7 00010 6 TAD 39 11010 54 code (PC) in bars b ... big hence in elements ca, ..., co HTH 8 001100 12 DTT 40 101111 47 ADH 9 0.1000 24 ATA 41 011101 29 The DCI goes in bars b2bb, hence in cs. The check THH 10 110000 48 TDD 42 111000 58 symbols co, . . . , co are now uniquely determined by the DHT 11 100011 35 TAT 43 10111 55 HAA 12 00001 5 DTA 44 101101 45 parity checks (**). 30 HDD 13 001010 10 ADA 45 011001 25 For example, DCI-Z, postal code K1S 5B6, mach AAH 14 010100 20 THD 46 110010 50 DDH 15 101000 40 DAT 47 100111 39 ID-DHAH encodes to the following codeword: AHT 16 01.0011 19 HTA 48 001101 13 DAD 17 100110 38 ADD 49 0.1010 26 18 29 12 5 14 27 52 54 4 6 8 33 9 6 20 41 HTT 18 O011 15 TAH 50 110100 52 ATD 19 O11110 30 DDT 51 101011 43 35 CO ...... C15 TTH 20 111100 60 AAA 52 010101 21 TDT 21 111011 59 DDD 53 101010 42 TAA 22 10101 53 AAT 54 010111 23 Table 2 then produces the bar code DDA 23 101001 41 DTD 55 101110 46 AHA 24 00001 17 ATT 56 011111 31 ATDDAAAHHADHDADHAHDHHADHAHTAD DHD 25 100010 34 TTD 57 111110 62 40 HAT 26 000111 7 TTT 58 11111 63 TAHADTHTDHAAHTHATAAHD DHAHAT HTD 27 001110 14 TTA 59 111101 61 ATH 28 011100 28 TDA 60 11100 57 TDH 29 111000 56 THA 61 110001 49 Reorganized into A- and N-fields this is THT 30 10011 51 DHA 62 100001 33
ATDDAAAHHADHD ADHAHDH -v- --N-N-1 Start DCI Postal Code-ANANAN
HAD HAHTADTAHADTHTDHAA HTHATAAHD DHAHAT N-N-1 ---- checks mach ID stop
For the CPC internal bar code, PostBarC10, the 56 bars are arranged as follows: 60 The Domestic Bar Cods, PostBar. D22 is similar in defi nition to the CPC Internal code. All of the 79 bars of the S.-- N--/ S--/ N--/ start coded portion machine ID stop 65 Customer Code, except for the 4 start/stop bars are covered by the ECC. Again the bars correspond to field elements in sets of 3. Thus field element ci-baab, b. 3. We have: 5,602.382 13 14 -i-x-i-x-fix-i-x-x-i-18 10 20 10 20 10 =- .0067 Start C24 C23 . . . Cl CO stop or about/2 of 1% that a random sequence of bars is a valid postal code. Combining this with p above gives a probability Using these 25 elements co,..., c. of GF(64) the ECC of 2.5x10 or 1 chance in 40,000,000 that a random string for the Customer Code is defined by specifying that a of bars will be interpreted as a valid postal code. Other codeword must satisfy: internal checks, such as the use of the code type, will reduce 10 this probability even further. This information should be 24 incorporated into the OCR software. (k++) col=0 for i=1,2, 3, 4 FIGS. 7 through 11 respectively illustrate the format of PostBar.D07, D12, S06, S11 and G22. These structures will This equation represents 4 equations with 4 unknown not be described herein as they will be readily understood coefficients which is solved by the computer bar code 15 from the foregoing description. generating Software. It should be understood that the inherent flexibility of the Using the symbology defined above, we record the DCI in new code permits of many more applications than described bars babb, hence in the element ca. The postal code is and illustrated herein and the particular applications placed in bars bs to big hence in the elements c2, . . . C19. described are to be considered representative only. The Address Locator (AL) goes in bars bo. . . . b hence 20 in c18, . . . , c.15. The customer field goes in bars ba2, ..., Furthermore, it is envisaged that data compression tech be hence in c14,..., ca. The check Symbols Co. . . . ca are niques may be used to accommodate longer messages than now uniquely determined by the parity checks (***), currently provided for with PostBar.D07, D12 and D22. For example, DCI=C, Postal Code=M4J 3W8, AL-1420, Data compression could also be used with the G and S codes. Cust field=ABCDEFGHIJK encodes the following code Where data compression is used, it is likely the DCI will word: not be compressed so as to allow speedy determination of
40 30 23 4 17 16 10 9 8 6 5 4 2 1 42 49 52 48 10 O 9 2 02
CO . C24
Using Table 3 to change from integer representation to bars the make-up of the bar code. An example is the case of a produces the bar code:
ATHEHDHHHAAAHDAHDD HDDTHHTAHTHADDDHHAHHH HHDHAHHAAHADHDHHDAHDDAHHAHAHAHAAT ATD DDHAT
This breaks down into A-, N-, and Z-fields as: service bar code present on a mail item that is being
ATHHD HHH AAAHD AHDDHDDTHHTAHTHADDD V--V-- N-1-1 N-- Start DCI Postal Code-ANANAN Address Locator
HHA HHHHHD HAH HAA HADHDHHDAHDDAHAHAHAHAAT ATD DOHAT N-N-1 -- -- Customer Field checks stop
The checks do not follow any of the Table 1 or 2 symbolo processed for sortation. As there is no sortation data in S codes, once the DCI is derived, the machine logic knows that gies but are simply field elements coded as in Table 3. 55 no further decoding is required to process and decompress It is noted that in a (16.6) Reed-Solomon code the the data. probability of a random pattern being a valid codeword is Suitable software listing for encoding of PostBarC10, for p=3.78x10. Moreover, for PostBarC10 the letters D.F.I., encoding of PostBar.D07, D12 and D22, for decoding Post O.Q., or U currently do not appear in the bar codes and Wor 60 BarC10, for decoding PostBar.D07, D12 and D22 follow: Z do not appear as the first letters of the code. There are 64 possible 3 bar system patterns, and only 20 are used for postal code letters. The digits for the postal code are encoded as 2 bar patterns, and only 10 of 16 are used. This gives a 65 probability of: 5,602,382 15 16
y : Program listing - 94-10-12 Encoder for Postbar. C.O
iinclude
-23 2 5,602,382 17 18
char customer name (25); char inward address (35); char outward address (30): A k Function Prototypes k/ void setup (void); /* builds the tables; k/ void encode to bars (void); /* decodes the bars into postal data */ void new pcode (char *); /* gets new data */ void initprin (void) ; /* initializes the printer k/ void print bars (int x, inty); /* generates bar codes at the given location */ int by alpha (int u); /* utility that multiplies u by alpha in the finite field k int shift (int u); /* utility that shifts ascii values for use in Atable, Ntable int zshift (int u); /* utility that shifts ascii values for use in Ztable */ int verbose = O. W* print debug information */ int output bars = A * Main Program k/ int main (argc, argv) int argc ; char kargv ( ;
int i, count, curX, cury, num, niline; int hh, vv.; int xx,yy, Zz; FILE kfa ; char *cp; char buf (1024); if (argc < 2) printf("Encoder program for the ClO code. (batch version). Vin") ; printf("This program prints 7x2 up labels on an HP Laserjet printer. Vin\n"); printf("Usage: printf(" is bpencclO (-b] -t (-h F) -v ii) -x -y # -z # filename printf(" is the initial horizontal offset (default kid). Vin", xinit); printf(" is the initial vertical offset (default d) - Vn", yinit); printf(" is the inter-label horizontal spacing (default id). Vin" Xincr) ; printf(" is the inter-label vertical spacing (default 3d). Vn", yincr) ; printf(" is the space between the bars and the text (default kid). Vin", zincr printf(" dot positions in printer units (300 DPI). Vn"); printf(" requests that information be printed to the screen. Vin"); exit(); requests only bar code numbers be printed to the screen. Vin"); Xinit; yinit; XX Xincr; : yincr; A* process command line arguments */ for (isi; i-argc; i---) if (stramp (argv[i],"-t") = 0) ----verbose; else if (strcmp (argvi), "-b") = 0) -24 5,602,382 19 20
++otciput bars; else if (strcmp (argvi), "-h") hh = atoi (argv (++i); else if (strcmp (argvi), "-v") == vv = atoi (argv-Hil) ; else if (strcmp (argvi), "-x") == xx = atoi (argv ---il) ; else if (strcmp (argvi), '-y') == yy = atoi (argv (++i) ; OOOO else if (stricmp (argvi), "-z") zz = atoi (argv (++i) ; else cp = argv (i) ; fd = fopen (cp, "r"); if (! fa) { printf("Unable to open file %s. Vn", cp); exit(); } setup(); if (verbose & & output bars) { printf("Augustpr intif ( "=====s===sess======\n" 15, 1994 Vn"); ) ; printf("Encoding Program for the Clo code. Vin"); } if (! verbose & & output bars) initprin () ;
countnum = =nrows 0; * incols; A number of labels on the page */ inline = 0; while (fgets (buf, sizedf (buf), fci) ) { ++nline; if (strlen (buf) < ll6) { for (i=0; i3strlen (buf); ++i) if (buf(i) = ' ' ) break; if ( (++ i) == strlen (buf)) continue; /k skip blank lines */ exitfprintif () ; (stderr, "ERROR - Invalid input at line 3d. Vin", niline); new pcode (buf); encode to bars (); ----count; curx = hh + xx + (1 - (count 2, 2)); cury = v v + yy k (int) ( ( (count - l) 3 num) / 2); if (verbose & & output bars) printprintf("VnPrinting bars (curx, cury); next label at (&di, & d) . Vn", curx, cury); if ( (count num) = 0) if (! verbose & & output bars) fprintf(stdprin, "c", 12); if ( (count k num) ) } if (! verbose && output bars) fprintif (stdprin, "kic", l.2) ;
A k secesseeseeseecessessessees ceasessessessessee A A* Initialization Routines */ /* ====s===arks====s======s== kA 5,602,382 21 22
void initpyn (void) int temp, i ; fprintif (stdprin, "3cE", 27); A * resets printer k/ fprintif (stdprin, "3ckt3OOR.", 27); At seting up resolution */ fprintif (stdprin, "kicsilefloP", 27); At sets various defaults k/ fprintif (stdprin, "3csalM", 27); A * more of the same */
int by alpha (int u)
return (u); } int shift (int u) /* changes ascii to indices for A and N tables k/ { if (u264) else u = return (u) ; } int zshift (int u) /* changes ascii to indices for 2 table */ else if (us=32) u=36; else u = 22 return (u) ; void setup (void) /* The look-up tables are created */ int WO, wil; int i, j, k, u, v; A * Initialize the look-up symbology tables */ A* The tables Atable (), Ntable (), Zitable () convert a shifted ascii k/ A* argument to the representations for the A, N and 2 fields respectively. */ A * Shifted ascii means (ascii -65) for A . . 2 and (ascii - 48) for O. .9 */ table O 2; Atable l = 4; Atable2 = 5; Atable (3) = 6; Atable (4) 8; Atable (5) = 9; Atable (6 = 10; Atable (7) = 1; Atable 8 17; Atable 9 = l8; Atable (10) = 20; Atable (11) = 21; Atable (12) = 0; Atablela) = 24; Atable l4 = 25; Atable (15 = 26; Atable (16 = 32; Atable (l7 = 33; Atable (18) = 34; Atable (19) = 36; table (20) = 37; Atable (21 = 38; Atable (22 = 40; Atable (23) = 4 l; Atable (24) 42; Atable (25 6; for (k=0; k64; k++) Alietter (k) = bad char; /* unsuitable characters print as # * for (k=0; k<26; k---) Aletter Atable (k) = k+65; Ntable (0. O; Ntablel at l; Nitable 2) 2; Ntable (3) = 4; Ntable 4 s 5; Ntable 5 6 : Ntable (6 = 8; Ntable (7) 9 ; Ntable8 = 10; Ntable 9 = l2; for (k=0; kilé; k-H-) Ndigit (k) = bad char; Mk unsuitable characters print as # */ for (k=0; k10; k++) Ndigit Ntable (k) = k+48; 2table O = 0; Zitablel l; Zitable2 = 2 Ztable (3) = 4; Ztable (4) s 5; 2 table (5) = 6; 2table (6) 8; Zitable7 = 9 Zitable8 = 10; 2table (9 = les; 2 table (10 = 17; Zitable (11) = 18; Zitable (12) i 20;2table (13) = 21:2table (14) = 22; -26 5,602,382 23 24
2 table (151 = 24; Ztable (16) = 25; Ztable (17) = 26; Ztable (18) = 32; Zitable (19) = 33; table (20 = 34; Ztable (21) = 36; Zitable (22 = 37; Zitable (23) = 38; Ztable (24) = 40; ztable (25) = 41; Ztable (26) = 42;2table (27 = 48; Ztable (28 = 49; Zitable (29) = 50; 2ztable table (30)35 = 58;52:2table Ztable (31)(36 = 53;3; Ztable (32) = 54; 2table (33) = 56; Zitable (34 = 57; for (k=0; k < 64; k++) Zchar(k) = bad char; /* unsuitable characters print as it k for (k=0; k26; k++) Zchar (Zitable k = k + 65; /* ascii for the letters k/ 2charfor (k=26; (3) = k<36;32; /*k++) ascii 2char for (2table a space (k) */ = k + 22; /* ascii for the digits */ /k the prod and inv) tables are defined */ for (k = 0; k < 64; k++) (prod ( 0 (k) = 0; prod l k = k; } w0 = 1; allog 0 = l; for (usl; u<64; u++) (wl = by alpha (wO); alogu) F Wil; for (v=0; vC64; v---) { prod (wl (v) = by alpha (prodw0) (v)); if (prodwij v == 1) invwl = v; } Wil; } Ak These are the codes for the roots of the generator poly. k/ A* They are alpha^1 , . . . . alpha^10. */ for (k=0; km; k++) alpha(k) = allog k+l) ; return;
A k is seesecesseesecrecceecerates A Ask Makes Input for the Encoder */ A k sessesseessessesseeseece secretacrites:secrete it ? void new pcode (char *buf) strincpy (item number, buf, 4) ; strncpy (customer name, &buf(4), 25) ; strincpy (inward address, &buf (29), 35); strincpy (outward address, &buf (64), 30); strincpy (postal code, &buf (94), 6) ; DCI = bufl00); strincpy (AL, &bufl.01), 4) ; strincpy (CustField, &buf (105), ll) ; /* Transfer the data to pcode for further processing */ pcode (O) = DCI ClO; strincpy (&pcode (l), postal code, 6) ; strincpy (&pcode 7), AL, 4) ; return;
void encode to bars (void) (/* This routine encodes pcode () as a bar pattern in bars) k/ int i,j,k, zeta; Atloop variables */ int deggen; /* holds the degree of the generator polynomial */ int mess (21); /*the 21 message or information symbols */
-27 5,602,382 25 26
int gen2(; /*the generator polynomial */ int codeword (26); /* codeword produced by the encoder */ int bars copy (79) ; /k holds a copy of the bar pattern k/ A it stress===s=mese===sraecessessee-e===ee-ses--see k/ /* Data Converter */ /* The DCI, postal code and data fields (if any) k/ A * are converted to a series of n-m field elements */ /* placed in mess (0) . . mess (n-m-1) ready for the encoder. */ A* DCI is put in messn-m-ll k/ mess (n-m-1} = 2 table(zshift ( (int) pcode (0); A k Repack the Postal Code */ mess (n-m-2} = Atable shift ( (int) pcode (1) ; mess (n-n-3) (Ntable shift ( (int) pcode 2 ) <<2) (Atable shift ( (int) pcode (3)) > mess (n-m-4 ( (Atable shift ( (int) pcode (3))) &l5) <<2)^ (Ntable shift ( (int) pcode ( mess (n-m-5) ( (Ntable shift ( (int) pcode (4 ) &3}<<4) (Atable shift ( (int) pcode 5 mess (n-n-6 ( (Atable shift ( (int) pcode (5 ) &3) <<4) Ntable shift ( (int) pcode 6 for (ji=n-m-7; j>=0; j-) mess (j) = Zitable zshift ( (int) pcode (n-m-j));
A keessessessessessessessesseesec=ressessessessessessessess k.A /k Error Correction Encoder k/ A* The message is in the form of n-In field elements mess(O) . . . messn-m-1} . */ /* These go into codeword (m) . . . codeword (n-l, while the check */ /* symbols go into codeword (0) . . . codeword (m-l. */ for (i=0; i-Cm; i++) codewordi O; for (i=m; ign; i++) codeword (i. mess i-m); A* The generator polynomial is defined. */ deggen = 0; gen(0)=l; for (j = 0; j
for (2eta n-m-l; zeta >s-O; zeta--) for (k = 0; k <= n : k++) { codeword zeta + k) } = codeword (zeta + k M (prod (gen (k) (codeword (n + zeta } for (i=m; izn; i++) codeword i = mess i-m); /* restore the high order symbols */
/k Barcode Maker / A * This routine takes codeword ( 0..n-l and produces the barcode pattern. */ A* The pattern is placed in bars as numbers from {0,1,2,3} = {H, A, D, T} */ /* The start and stop bars are put in place. */ bars 0 = bars (N-2J = 1; bars (l - bars N-l 3; At Put the machine ID bars in bars (50), . . . , bars (53) coded as O, i, 2, 3 */
-28
5,602,382 29 30
Program Listing - 94-10-12 Encoder for Postbar. D07, Postbar. D12 and Postbar. D22.
include
-30 5,602.382 31 32
A k Dynamic additional inputs for printing */ char item number (4) ; char customer name (25); char inward address (35) ; char outward address (30); /* Function Prototypes */ / k principal routines */ void setup (void); /* builds the tables; */ void encode to bars (void) ; /* encodes the data as a barcode D07, D12 or D22 */ void new pcode (char *); /* gets new data */ void initprin (void) ; /* initializes the printer k/ void print bars (int x, inty) ; /* generates bar codes at the given location */ Akvoid utilities print text used (int by x, setup inty, () */int z); /* prints name and address information */ int by alpha (int u); /* utility that multiplies u by alpha in the finite field * int shift (int u); /* utility that shifts ascii values for use in Atable, Ntable int zshift (int u); /* utility that shifts ascii values for use in Ztable */ int verbose = 0; /k print debug information */ int output bars = 0; A k Main Program */ int. Inain (argc, argv) int argc; char *argv ();
int i, count, curX, cury, num, inline; int hh viv; int XX, yy, ZZ ; FILE kfa; char *cp; char buf (1024); if (argc < 2) { printf("Encoder program for the D code family (batch version) . Vin"); printf("This program prints 7x2 up labels on an HP Laserjet printer. Vnvn"); printf("Usage: bpencd (-b) -t (-h (-) -v ij (-x # -y # -z i) filename\n printf(" h is the initial horizontal offset (default kid). Vin" Xinit) ; printf(" v is the initial vertical offset (default 3d). Vin", yinit); printf(" x is the inter-label horizontal spacing (default %d). \n", xiincr); printf(" y is the inter-label vertical spacing (default &d). Vn", yincr) ; printif (" z is the space between the bars and the text (default 3d) . \n", zincr printf(" i is dot positions in printer units (300 DPI). Vin"); printf(" trequests that information be printed to the screen. Vin"); printf(" b requests only bar code numbers be printed to the screen. Vin") ; exit () w } hh = xinit; v v = yinit; XX = Xincr; yy = yincr; zz = zincr; At process command line arguments */
-3-
5,602,382 35 36
/k Ge:EEEcstatester SecESSEricescES case SEEEscarce */ A k Initialization Routines */ void initprin (void) int temp, i. fprintif (stdprn, "%cE",27); /k resets printer k/ fprintf(stdprin, "3ckt3OOR.", 27); A * setting up resolution k/ fprintif (stdprin, "kickleflop", 27); A sets various defaults k/ fprintif (stdprin, "&c &alM", 27); A k more of the same k/
int by alpha (int u) { u = (u << 1); if (u > 63) u =u^67; return (u);
int shift (int u) /* changes ascii to indices for A and N tables */ { if (u264) u-=65; else u -= 48; return (u) ;
int zshift (int u) A* changes ascii to indices for Z table */ ( if (u264) u-=65; else if (u==32) u=36; else ll -= 22; return (u);
voidf setup (void) /* The look-up tables are created */ int WO, Wil; int i, j, k, u, vi A* Initialize the look-up symbology tables */ \ A* The tables Atable (), Ntable), Ztable () convert a\ shifted ascii */ A * argument to the representations for the A, N and Z fields respectively. */ /* Shifted ascii means (ascii -65) for A . . Z and (asci-se) for O. .9 */
Atable (O) = 2; Atable (1) = 4; Atable (2) = 5; Atable (3) = 6; Ab Atable (4) = 8; Atable (5) = 9; Atable6 = 10; Atable (7) = l; Atable 8 se l7; Atable (9) = 18; Atable (10) = 20; Atable Ill) = 21; Atable (12) = 0; Atable (13) = 24; Atable (14) = 25; Atable (15) = 26; Atable (16) = 32; Atable (17) = 33; Atable (18 = 34; Atable (19) = 36 Atable (20) = 37; Atable (21) = 38; Atable (22) = 40; Atable (23) = 4l Atable (24 = 42; Atable (25) = 16;
for (k=0; k64; k++) Aletter(k) = bad char; /* unsuitable characters print as d k for (k=0; k26; k++) Aletter Atable (k) = k+65; r Ntable (0. O; Ntable l = l; Ntable 2) 2; Ntable (3) 4; Ntable 4) = 5; Ntable (5 6; Ntable6 = 8; Ntable 7 . 9; Ntable 8 10; Ntable (9 = l2 s
-33 5,602,382 37 38
for (k=0; k10;k++)killé i k++) NdigitNdigit (Ntable (k) = bad(k) char;= k+48; /* unsuitable characters print as # */ Ztable (0) = 0; Zitable (1) = 1; Zitable (2) = 2; 2table (3) = 4; 2 table4 = 5; Zitable (5) = 6; Zitable (6) = 8; Ztable (7) = 9; Ztable8 = 0; Zitable 9 = les; Zitable (0) = 17; 2tablell) = l8;2table (l2] = 20; Ztable (13) = 21; Ztable (14) = 22; Zitable (15 = 24; Zitable (16) = 25; Zitable (l7 = 26; Ztable i8 = 32; Ztable (19 = 33; Ztable (20) = 34; Ztable (21) = 36; Ztable (22 = 37;2table (23 = 38; Zitable (24) = 40; 2table (25) = 4l; Zitable (26 = 42;2table (27 = 48;2table (28 = 49; Zitable (29) = 50; Zitable (30)35 = 58;52:2table 2 table (36(31) = 3;53; Zitable (32) = 54; Ztable (33) = 56; Ztable (34 - 57; for (k=0; k < 64; k++) Zchar(k) = bad char; /* unsuitable characters print as # * for (k=0; k26; k++) 2char Ztable (k) = k + 65; /* ascii for the letters */ for (k=26; k36; k++) Zchar (Zitable (k) = k + 22; /k ascii for the digits */ 2char3 = 32; At ascii for a space k/ Ak the prod) () and inv) tables are defined */ for (k = 0; k < 64; k++) (prod Oj k = 0; prod1 k = k; } w0 = 1; allog (O) = 1; for (u-l; u<64; u----) {wl = by alpha (WO); alogu = wil; for (v=0; v-64; v---) { prod (wl v) = by alpha (prodwo) (v) ; if (prodwill v) == 1) invwl) = v; } WO W; } /* These are the codes for the roots of the generator poly. */ A* They are alpha^l . . . , alpha^10. */ for (k=0;km;k++) alpha(k) = alog k+1}; return; ) M k =sessessesseesessessessesseeatseeeeeeeees A A * Makes Input for the Encoder k/ / ceasessesseesecreesecretsesseeselesceeeeese kA void new pcode (char *buf) . . . int strincpy (item number, buf, 4); strincipy (customer name, &buf4, 25); strincpy (inward address, &buf (29),35) ; strincpy (outward address, &buf(64), 30); Strincpy (postal code, &buf (94), 6) ; DCI = buf (100); strincpy (AL, &bufl.01), 4) ; strincpy (CustField, &bufl05, ll) ; A * Transfer the data to pcode for further processing */ pcode 0) = DCI; /k Assume input record contains valid DCI */ strincpy (&pcodel, postal code, 6) ; strincipy (&pcode 7), AI, 4) ; strincpy (&pcodell, CustField, ll) ;
-34 5,602,382 39 40
if (verbose) return; switch (pcode 0) (case DCI DO7 : printf("Vnusing code POSTBAR. D07") ; break; case DCI D12 : , printf("\nusing code POSTBAR. D12") ; break; case DCI D22 : printf("\nusing code POSTBAR. D22"); printf(" DCI = &c" (char) pcode(0); return;
scencescreesteressesses k/ The main Encoder Routine k/ void encode to bars (void) (int i,j,k, zeta; /* loop variables */ int n, N.; Ask code length in symbols and bars k/ int Iness (21 ; /* the 21 message or information symbols k/ int gen (26); /* the generator polynomial */ int deggen; /k holds the degree of the generator polynomial */ int codeword (26); /* codeword produced by the encoder k/ switch (pcode O)) (case DCI D07: {n=10; break; } case DCI D12: {n=15;break; } case DCI D22 : n=25;} 3 *n + 4 ; / k total number of bars in the code used k/ reareseectestees cesteresterester Data Converter k/ Area */ The DCI, postal code and data fields (if any) k/ are converted to a series of n-m field elements k/ placed in mess(O) . . mess In-m-l ready for the encoder. */ DCI is put in mess (n-n-l) */ iness (n-m-1 = Zitable (zshift ( (int) pcode 0) ; A k Repack the Postal Code */ mess (n-m-2) Atable shift ( (int) pcode (l) mess (n-n-3 (Ntable shift ( (int) pcode 2 ; Iless (n-m-4) ( (Atable shift ( (int) pcode 3 ) <<2)^ (Atable shift ( (int) pcode(3) ) > mess (n-m-5) }) ] &5) <<2)^ (Ntable shift ( (int) pcode mess (n-m-6) ( (Ntable (shift ( (int) pcode 4 ) &3) <<4)^ (Atable (shift ( (int) pcode 5 ( (Atable (shift ( (int) pcode 5 ) & 3) <<4)^Ntable shift ( (int) pcode (6) for (ji=n-m-7; j>=0;j-) mess (j) = 2 table(zshift ( (int) pcode (n-n-j)));
Error Correction Encoder k/ --- k/ The message is in the form of n-m field elements mess (0) . . . mess (n-m-i). */ /* These go into codeword m) . . . codeword (n-1), while the check */ A* symbols go into codeword (0. . . codeword (In-1). */ for (i=0;ign; i-H-) codeword (i) = 0; for (i=m; ign; i---) codeword i = messi-II); The generator polynomial is defined. */ deggen = 0; gen(0)=l;
-35 5,602,382 41 42
for (j = L; j
for (2eta = n-n-1; zeta >=0; zeta--) for (k = 0; k <= m ; k-H-) { codeword (zeta + k) = codeword zeta + k) (prod (gen (k)) codeword } } for (i=m;i&n; i-tri-) codeword (i. mess (i-m); /* restore the high order symbols */ /k ==ccessessessessessessee-secresceeeeee k.M /* Barcode Maker k/ A rssssssssss=ss==se-Ec accessessesseeseeaeteere kA A* This routine takes codeword (0..n-l) and produces the barcode pattern. */ A* The pattern is placed in bars) as numbers from {0, 1, 2, 3} +/ A * The array display () converts from 0, 1, 2, 3 to B, U, D, T */ A* The start and stop bars are put in place. */ bars (0) = bars (N-2 = l; bars (l bars (N-1 = 3; A* The codeword () is made into bars starting with codeword in-l) */ /* and working down. */ A * This puts the checks at the right hand end of the barcode. */ for (ji=2, k=n-l; k>=0; i+=3, k--) (bars (j) = codeword k >> 4; bars (j-i-l) = (codeword k >>2) &3; bars (j-i-2) = codeword (k) &3; } return; ) A accessessessessessessessessessessesses-- k A Ak Print the Barcode */ As CSCCsCSSCC's SetRSCCSESSESSEESESSESSEC see k.A M* This routine prints out the bar pattern using vertical rules */ void print bars (int x, inty) int j,ht, yy; int N; /* code length in bars k/ switch (pcode (O) (case DCI D07 : (N=34; break; } case DCI D12 : (N=49; break; ) case DCI D22 (N=79; }} if (verbose output bars) { for (j = 0; j < N, j++) printf("&d", bars (j)) printf("\n"); return; } for (ji=0; j -36 5,602,382 47 48 Program ilisting - 94-10-12 Decoder for Postbar. ClO iinclude FILE efd; char k cp; char buf (1024); int inline; if (argc < 2) { -39 5,602,382 49 50 printt("Decoder program for code Clo (batch version). Vin\n"); printf("Usage: bpd eccl0 filename\n\n"); printf(" filename contains barcodes to be decoded. Vin"); exit(); ) cp = argv (l) ; fd = fopen (cp, "r"); if (fa) { printf("Unable to open file &s. \n", cp); exit(); } setup(); nline = 0; while (fgets (buf, sizedf (buif), fci)) { ++nline; if (bufstrlen (buf) -l) = \n") buf strlen (buf) -1 = 'VO" ; for (i-0; i-strlen (buf); i++) { if (buf(i) < 'O' buf(i) > 4') { fprintif (stderr, "ERROR - Invalid input at line d. Vn", niline) ; fprintif (stderr," Invalid character at position kid. Vn", i) ; exit () ; } } get decodier input (buf) ; decode the bars (); print data () ; A k====s======s==== a--- teece k M A x Initialization Routines */ A keepercestestessee-acresce====Electice secess== ik A int by alpha (int u) ( u = (u K< l) ; if (u > 63) u =ur 67; return (u); } int shift (int u) Ak changes ascii to indices for A and N tables */ ( if (u264) u--65; else u -= 4.8; return (u); int zshift (int u) /k changes ascii to indices for 2 table */ { if (u264) u-=65; else if (u-32) u=36; else ll -= 22; return (u) ; } void setup (void) /k. The look-up tables are created k/ int wo, wil; - 40 5,602.382 51 52 int i, j, ki, u, v; /* Initialize the look-up symbology tables */ Ak. The tables Atable, Ntable, Zitable () convert a shifted ascii */ A * argument to the representations for the A, N and 2 fields respectively. */ At Shifted ascii means (ascii -65) for A . . Z and (ascii - 48) for O. . 9 */ Atable (0) = 2; Atable l = 4; Atable2 = 5; Atable (3 = 6; Atable (4) = 8: Atable (5 = 9; Atable (6) = 10; Atable (7) is l; Atable8 = 17; Atable (9) = l8; Atable 10 = 20; Atablell) = 21; Atable (12) = 0; Atable (13) = 24; Atable (14 = 25; Atable (15 = 26; Atable (16) = 32; Atable (l7 = 33; Atable l8 = 34; Atable (19 = 36; Atable (20) = 37; Atable (21) = 38; Atable (22) = 40; Atable (23) = 41; Atable (24) = 42; Atable (25) = 16; for (k=0; k<64; k++) Aletter (k) = bad char; /* unsuitable characters print as # * for (k=0; k<26; k++) Aletter (Atable k = k+65; Ntable (O) = 0; Ntable (1) = 1; Ntable (2) = 2; Ntable 3) = 4; Ntable (4) F 5; Ntable (5) = 6; Ntable (6 = 8; Ntable7 = 9 ; Ntable (8 = 10; Ntable (9) = 12; for (k=0; k16; k++) Ndigit (k) = bad char; /k unsuitable characters print as if */ for (k=0; k<10; k++) Ndigit Ntable k = k+48; table (0) = 0; 2 table (1) = 1; Ztable2 = 2; Zitable (3) = 4; Zitable (4) = 5: Zitable5 = 6; Zitable (6 = 8; Zitable7 = 9; 2 table (8) = 10; 2 table (9) = 16; Ztable (10 = 7; Zitable lilj = 18; Ztable 12] = 20; Ztable (13) = 21; Ztable (14) = 22; Ztable (15 = 24; Zitable (16) = 25; Zitable l7 = 26;2table (18) = 32; Zitable (19) = 33; 2 table (20) = 34; Zitable (21) = 36; Ztable (22 = 37; Ztable (23) = 38; Ztable (24) = 40; table (25) = 41; Ztable (26) = 42; Zitable (27) = 48; Zitable (28 = 49; Zitable (29) = 50 ; table (30) = 52; Zitable (31) = 53; Z table (32) = 54; Zitable (33) = 56; Zitable (34) = 57; Ztable (35) = 58; Zitable (36) = 3; for (k=0; k < 64; k++) Zchar(k) = bad char; /* unsuitable characters print as i for (k=0; k26; k++) Zchar Ztable k = k + 65; k ascii for the letters */ for (k=26; k<36; k++) Zchar (Zitable (k k + 22; /k ascii for the digits k/ Zchar (3) = 32; A* ascii for a space k/ A * the prod) and inv tables are defined */ for (k = 0; k < 64; k++) (prod(0) (k O; prod l k = k; } WO l; allog 0) = 1; for (usel; ukó4; u++) (wl = by alpha (wO); alog Ill.) Wi; for (v=0; v C64; v++) ( prod (wl v) = by alpha (prodwo (v)); if (prodwill (v) l) invwl = w; } WO Wil; } A * These are the codes for the roots of the generator poly. */ /* They are alpha^l, , alpha^10. */ for (k=0; k -41 5,602,382 53 54 A its=ssa==t2-s======s======ee=ass==assess-- kA void get decoder input (char *buf) { int i: for (i=0; i-Cstrlen (buf); i+,+) bars i = bufi - 'O' ; return; / A /k Decode the Bars k/ / keece-seese-casessessessessessesseesearcea kA A* The bar pattern is received in bars) with 0 , 2, 3 denoting */ A* H, A, D, T and 4 denoting an erased bar. */ void decode the bars (void) int recé4); Akreceived vector (over GF(64)) accepted by decoder */ int cor 64; /* corrected vector (over GF(64)) produced by decoder */ int all), bill, u (li), vill); /*the polynomials in the recursive sequences */ int dega, deg_b, deg v; /*the degrees of these polynomials */ int syn (10); /* syndrome vector */ int dv11); /* the derivative of polynomial v */ int delta, zeta, tau, r, s, t, w, temp; /*temporary scratchpad variables */ int i, j, k; A loop counters / int errocunt, alphai; Akcounts the errors, holds alpha^i during correction */ int erase num; /* counts the number of erased symbols received */ int eraseloc (10); /* holds locations (0...n) of the erasures */ int bound; /* bound for iterations of Euclidean Algorithm */ int bad char check/* checks for bad characters after decoding */ /* Unpack the bars into a received vector rec */ for (j=2, k=15; k>=0; j+=3 k--) (if ( (bars (j) = 4) (bars (j+1)=4) (bars (j+2=4)) rec(k) = 64; else reck) = (bars j <<4) * (bars j+1}<<2) M bars (i+2) ; ) A A A k The Error correction Routine / /* */ Ak =s======Initialize, Catalogue the Erasures ======s== */ /* and Calulate the Syndrome */ erase num = 0; decode flag = 1; for (j=0; j a 42 5,602,382 59 60 switch (decode flag) {case 0: break; Case 1: break; case 2: printif ("Failed - too many erasures. Vin") ; break; case 3: printf("Failed - too many errors. Vin") ; break; case 4: printf("Decoding failure. \n"); break; default: {printf("Unknown decode flag value received. Vin"); } } printf("DCI: 3c", DCI); printf(" Postal code: . "); for (ji=0; j<3; j++) printf("%c", (char) post code (j)); rintf(" "); for (ji=3; j<6; j++) printf("%.c", (char) post code (j)); printf("Vin");printf(" Machine ID: "); for (j=0; j<4; j++) printf("%ic", (char) display machid (j return; -4,5- 5,602,382 61 62 Program Listing - 94-10-12 Decoder for Postbar. D07, Postbar. Di2 and Postbar. D22. include -46 5,602.382 63 64 char. kargv); FILE k fid; char k cp; char bufl024; int inline; if (argc < 2) { printf("Decoder program for the D codes (batch version). Vin\n"); printf("Usage: bpdecd filename\n\n"); printf(" filename contains barcodes to be decoded. Vin"); exit(); cp = argvl) ; fd = fopen (cp, "r"); if (fa) { printf("Unable to open file is. Vn", cp) ; exit(); setup () ; inline = 0; while (fgets (buf, sizeof (buf), fci)) { ++nline; if (bufstrlen (buf) -l) == "\n") buff strlen (buf) -1 = VO’; for (i=0; i-strlen (buf); i++) { if (bufi) < 'O' bufi) > '4') { fprintif (stderr, "ERROR - Invalid input at line 3d. Vin", niline) ; fprintif (stderr," Invalid character at position kid. Vn", i) ; exit(); } } get decoder input (buf) ; decode the bars (); print data () ; } } M sk======s======k/ /k Initialization Routines */ A -keteestatesteresterestessesseesest-secticesterestessee k./ int by alpha (int u) u = (u << l) ; if (u > 63) u =u^67; return (u) ; int shift (int u) /* changes ascii to indices for A and N tables */ ( if (u264) u-=65; else u -= 48; return (u) ; -47 5,602,382 65 66 int 2shiftint u) /* changes ascii to indices for Z table */ { if (u264) u-65; else if (u-s32) u=36; else ll -s 22; return (u) ; void setup (void) /* The look-up tables are created k/ { int WO, wil; int i, j, k, u, v; /* Initialize the look-up symbology tables */ /* The tables Atable (), Ntable), Zitable convert a shifted ascii / A k argument to the representations for the A, N and 2 fields respectively. */ /* Shifted ascii means (ascii -65) for A . . 2 and (ascii - 48) for O. . 9 */ Atable (O) = 2; Atable (l) = 4; Atable2 = 5; Atable 3 = 6; Atable (4 J = 8; Atable (5) = 9; Atable6 = 10; Atable (7) = l; Atable8 = i7; Atable 9) = 18; Atable iO) = 20; Atableli) = 2il; Atable (12) = 0; Atablel3 = 24; Atable 14) = 25; Atable (15 = 26; table (16) = 32; Atable l7 = 33; Atable (18) = 34; Atable l9 = 36; Atable (20) = 37; Atable (21) = 38; Atable (22) = 40; Atable (23) = 4; Atable (24) = 42; Atable (25) = 6; - for (k=0; kó4; k++) Aletterk) = bad char; Mk unsuitable characters print as * for (k=0; k26; k++) Aletter Atable k = k+65; Ntable0) O; Ntable 1) l; Ntable (2) = 2 ; Ntable (3) 4; Ntable (4) = 5; Ntable (5) 6; Ntable (6) 8; Ntable 7 9 ; Ntable 8 lO; Ntable (9) = 12; for (k=0; k<16; k++) Ndigit (k) = bad char; Ak unsuitable characters print as # */ for (k=0; k<10;k++) Ndigit (Ntable k = k+48; table (0) = 0; Zitable l = 1; Zitable2 = 2; Ztable (3) = 4; Zitable (4) = 5; Ztable (5) = 6; Zitable6 = 8; Zitable (7) = 9; 2 table (8 = lo; Zitable (9) = 16; table (10) = 17; Ztable Ill) = 18;2table l2] = 20; Ztable (13) = 21; Zitable (l.4 F 22; 2 table (15 = 24; Zitable (16) = 25; 2 table (17) = 26; Zitable (18) = 32; Zitable (19) = 33; Zitable (20) = 34; Zitable (21) = 36; Ztable (22 = 37; Zitable (23 = 38; Zitable (24) = 40 ; table (25) = 41; Ztable (26 = 42; Ztable (27 = 48;2table 28 = 49; Zitable (29) = 50 ; table (30) = 52; Zitable (31) = 53; Zitable (32) = 54; Zitable (33) = 56; Zitable (34) = 57; Zitable (35) = 58; Ztable (36) = 3; for (k=0; k < 64; k++) Zchar(k) = bad char; /* unsuitable characters print as # * for (k=0; k26; k++) 2char Ztable k = k + 65; /* ascii for the letters */ for (k=26; k<36; k++) Zchar Ztable k = k + 22; /* ascii for the digits */ 2 char3 = 32; /* ascii for a space k/ A * the prod) () and inv tables are defined */ for (k = 0; k < 64; k++) (prod(0) (k) = 0; prod l k = k; } wO = 1; allog (0) = l; for (usl;ug64; u---) (wi = by alpha (wO); alogu) = wil; for (vs.O; v<64; v++) { prod (wl (v) as by alpha (prod (wOJ (v)); if (prodwill (v) = 1) invwl) = v; ) -48 5,602,382 67 68 wO = w; ) /* These are the codes for the roots of the generator poly. */ /* They are alpha^l, . . . , alpha^l0. */ for (k=0;km; k++) alpha(k) = alog (k+1); return; Mik=====s======k/ /k Makes Test Input for Decoder k/ /k====s= Fee-Fes=seese-eeses=====eessess-esc== / void get decoder input (char kbuf) { int i: for (i=0; i3Strlen (buf); i++) bars (i) = bufi - 'O' ; if (strlen (buf) > 49) codeid = 2; else if (strlen (buf) > 34) codeid = l; else codeid = 0; return; } M kistancesternace-re-re-re enteeressessessessessessessee e A /* Decode the Bars k/ A k=-accreasema-a-a-aa-- ceresterest-seatseeeeeeeeeeeeeee-ee kA /* The main decoding routine. / /* The bar pattern is received in bars with O, l, 2, 3 denoting */ A* H, A, D, T and 4 denoting an erased bar. */ /* The barcode used is identified by codeid = 0 for D07, */ /k = 1 for D12, = 2 for D22. */ void decode the bars (void) ( int i,j,k; /k loop counters */ int in, N; /* code length in characters (n) and in bars (N) */ int a (5), b5), us, v(5); /*the polys in the recursive sequences */ int rec(26); /* received vector accepted by decoder */ int cor(26); /* corrected vector produced by decoder */ int dega, deg b, deg v; /*the degrees of these polynomials */ int syn (4); /* syndrome vector */ int dv5); /k the derivative of polynomial v */ int delta, zeta, tau, r, s, t, w, temp; /*temporary scratchpad variables */ int erreount, alphai; /* counts the errors, holds alpha^i during correction */ int erase num; /* counts the number of erased symbols received */ int eraselioc (5); /* holds locations (O. . . n) of the erasures */ int bound; /* bound for iterations of Euclidean Algorithm */ int bad char check; /* flag for bad characters after decoding */ /* calculate code length in symbols (n) and bars (N) */ switch (codeid) (case 0: (n=10; break; ) case l: {n=15; break; ) case 2 : n=25;} /* Unpack the bars into a received vector rec */ for (j=2, kan-l; k>=0; j+=3 k--) if ( (bars (j)==4) (bars (j+1)=4) (bars (j+2=4)) rec(k)=64; -49 5,602,382 73 74 /* and fically, check for any unacceptable characters */ bad char check = 0; for (i=0; i36; i++) bad char check = (postcode (i) == bad char) ; if (codeid = 2) for (i=0; i.<15; i++) bad char check = (data field (i) == bad char if (bad(code char id == check 1) for=1) (i-O; decode i35; it--)flag bad= 4; char check = (data field (i) = bad char) return; A k=esses===s=s==ce-class=-sesses======cse======s==r A /k Print the decoded data k/ A citeStres::sec:3ESSce:EEless void print data (void) est-cassesse--see- A { int j; /* loop counter and temporary variable */ switch (decode flag) {case 0: break; case : break; case 2: printf("Failed - too many erasures. Vin") : break; case 3: printf("Failed - too many errors. Vin"); break; case 4: printf("Decoding failure. Vin") ; break; default: {printf("Unknown decode flag value received. Vin"); } } printf("DCI: 3c", DCI); printf("VitPostal code: "); for (ji=0; j<3; j++) printf("%c", (char) postcode (j)); printf(" "); for (j=3; jK6; j++) printf("%.c", (char) post code (j)); if (codeid > 0) printf("\tData Field: ") ; if (codeid=1) (for (j=0; j<5; j++) printf("3c", (char) data field (j)); } printf("Vin");if (codeid=2) (for (j=o; j<15; j++) printf("&c", (char) data field (jJ); } return; -52 5,602,382 75 76 We claim: (H), extending between an upper and lower level, a partial 1. A mail piece bearing a bar codeword containing infor height bar (D) descending to the lower level, a partial height mation for the processing of the mail piece, the bar code bar (A) ascending to the upper level, and a bar (T) the height word having a plurality of parallel bars each of which has a and position of which is determined by overlap of the state selected from a plurality of possible states, the bar 5 descending and ascending bars, the bar codeword compris codeword comprising a start field followed by a data content ing a start field followed by a data content identifier (DCI) identifier (DCI) field specifying the structure of the code field specifying the structure of the codeword followed by at word followed by at least one data field, followed by a least one data field followed by a Reed-Solomon parity field Reed-Solomon parity field, followed by a stop field. followed by a stop field. 2. A mail piece according to claim 1 in which the start 10 15. A mail piece according to claim 14 in which the start field and the stop field are identical, each consisting of two field and the stop field are identical, each consisting of two different state bars. different state bars. 3. A mail piece according to claim 1 in which the 16. A mail piece according to claim 15 in which the start Reed-Solomon field contains a plurality of Reed-Solomon and stop bars are an A bar followed by a T bar. characters each encoded in 3 bars. 15 17. A mail piece according to claim 14 in which the DCI 4. A mail piece according to claim 1 in which the DCI is is encoded in three bars. encoded in three bars. 18. A mail piece according to claim 14 in which the at 5. A mail piece according to claim 1 in which the at least least one data field includes at least one of a postal code, one data field includes at least one of a postal code, with or with or without address locator, customer information and without address locator, customer information and service 20 service information. information. 19. A mail piece according to claim 15 in which the at 6. A mail piece according to claim 5 in which the at least least one data field contains characters each of which is one data field contains characters each of which is encoded encoded in three bars. in three bars. 20. A mail piece according to claim 18 in which the postal 7. A mail piece according to claim 5 in which the postal 25 code contains alphabetic characters and numeric characters, code contains alphabetic characters and numeric characters, the alphabetic characters being encoded in three bars and the the alphabetic characters being encoded in three bars and the numeric characters being encoded in two bars, any remain numeric characters being encoded in two bars, any remain ing data being encoded in three bar characters. ing data being encoded in three bar characters. 21. A mail piece according to claim 14 in which the at 8. A mail piece according to claim 1 in which the at least 30 least one data field includes a country code followed by at one data field includes a country code followed by at least least one of a postal code, with or without an address locator, one of a postal code, with or without an address locator, customer information and service information. customer information and service information. 22. A mail piece according to claim 21 in which the at 9. A mail piece according to claim 8 in which the at least least one data field contains characters each of which is one data field contains characters each of which is encoded 35 encoded in three bars. in three bars. 23. A mail piece according to claim 14 in which the at 10. A mail piece according to claim 1 in which the at least least one data field includes a postal code and in which a one data field includes a postal code and in which a further further data field comprising machine ID follows the Reed data field comprising machine ID follows the Reed-Solomon Solomon parity field. parity field. 40 24. A mail piece according to claim 23 in which the 11. A mail piece according to claim 10 in which the machine ID is represented by four bars and each bar state has machine ID is represented by four bars and each bar state has a unique numerical value. a unique numerical value. 25. A mail piece according to claim 14 in which a barcode 12. A mail piece according to claim 1 in which a bar code sequencer field is located between the DCI field and the at sequencer field is located between the DCI field and the at 45 least one data field, the bar code sequencer field containing least one data field, the bar code sequencer field containing a code indicating one of the bar code is a single code, the bar a code indicating one of the barcode is a single code, the bar code is the first of two concatenated bar codes and the bar code is the first of two concatenated bar codes and the bar code is the second of two concatenated bar codes. code is the second of two concatenated bar codes. 26. A mail piece according to claim 14 in which the 13. A mail piece according to claim 1 in which the 50 codeword may be applied by one of the Post Office and a codeword may be applied by one of the Post Office and a customer, the Reed-Solomon parity field being longer for a customer, the Reed-Solomon parity field being longer for a Post Office applied codeword than for a customer applied Post Office applied codeword than for a customer applied codeword. codeword. 27. A mail piece according to claim 14 in which the 14. A mail piece bearing a bar codeword containing 55 Reed-Solomon field contain a plurality of Reed-Solomon information for the processing of the mail piece, the bar characters each encoded in 3 bars. codeword having a plurality of parallel bars each of which has one of four possible states selected from a full height bar ck k k k :k