Download EasyLabel Documentation

Printed Documentation
History and Overview
FIM or Facing Identification Mark is a 9 position bar/no-bar pattern. The FIM
patterns are used by business mailers on preprinted mailing pieces for
compatibility with various United States Postal Service automatic sorting
systems. There are four FIM patterns (A, B, C, D) that can be printed.
FIM A is used on Courtesy Reply Mail, with preprinted Postnet symbology in the
address.
FIM B is used on Business Reply, Penalty and Franked mail with no preprinted
Postnet symbology.
FIM C is used on Business Reply, Penalty and Franked mail with preprinted
Postnet symbology.
FIM D is used for OCR readable mail with no Postnet symbology.
Interleaved 2 of 5
History and Overview
Interleaved 2 of 5 is a high-density, self-checking, continuous numeric
symbology. It gets the name "Interleaved" because two numeric digits are
interleaved together, with the bars representing one digit and the spaces
representing a second digit. It is one of the most popular symbologies used by
the shipping and warehouse industries for identification. The binary level barcode
is suitable for printing on rough-surfaced materials, such as corrugated boxes or
cardboard. The Distribution Symbology Study Group has recommended 2 of 5 as
the standard for numeric labeling of corrugated shipping containers. It has been
adopted by the Uniform Product Code Council as the standard symbology for
outer shipping containers in the grocery industry. It is also used in the medical
and automotive fields.
Every Interleaved 2 of 5 character actually encodes two digits; one in the bars,
and one in the spaces. There are five bars, two of which are wide and three of
which are narrow. Similarly, there are five spaces in each character, two of which
are wide and three of which are narrow. Each digit has its own unique 2 out of 5
arrangement.
Unfortunately, a partial scan has a high probability of decoding as a valid, but
shorter Interleaved 2 of 5 symbol. This is due to the simple nature of the start and
stop patterns. Because of this partial scan problem, Interleaved 2 of 5 is best
used in a fixed-length application, with all reading equipment programmed to
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