• In a Windows World DOS Comes to the
Rescue
JUL 2010, Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News, Author: George Wright IV
Things are not always what they seem. Many bar code
application standards require non-printing “control” characters to be encoded in
the symbol, but these characters do not show up on the screen when the encoded
message is scanned into most PC programs. But that doesn’t mean the control
characters aren’t encoded. This “invisibility” can be disconcerting to someone
casually checking symbol encodation with a scanner connected to a PC instead of
a bar code verifier.
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• GS1 to Sunset Application Identifier AI(22) Data
Structure for Secondary Attributes
APR 2010, Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News, Author: George Wright IV
Introduced more than 15
years ago to provide a convenient migration path for companies converting from
the Health Industry Bar Code (HIBC) Supplier Labeling Standard to the global GS1
System of product identification and bar code marking standards, Application
Identifier AI(22), “Secondary Data for Specific Health Industry Products,” is
now slated for withdrawal effective January 1, 2013.
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•
Is your verifier telling you the
truth?
APR 2010,
Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News, PIPS Ad
Even the best verifier needs to be regularly challenged for conformance
IT'S A FACT: Not all bar code verifiers are created equal and until now
there has been no way to check their accuracy. Now there is. GS1•US
Data Matrix test card symbols are precisely engineered to challenge 2D
verifiers for conformance with ISO/IEC 16022, 15415 and 15426-2. Each
card is certified by the GS•US 2D Judge(TM) – the ultimate authority on
2D symbol quality. This is the only official test card specifically for
2D verifier conformance testing. Read
more:
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•
Standards for Securing the Drug Supply
Chain - Standardized Numerical Identification
for Prescription Drug Packages
26 MAR 2010,
FDA Guidance for Industry - Final Guidance
This
guidance is intended to address provisions set forth in Section 505D of the
Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the Act) regarding development of
standardized numerical identifiers (SNIs) for prescription drug packages. In
this guidance, FDA is identifying package-level SNIs, as an initial step in
FDA’s development and implementation of additional measures to secure the drug
supply chain.
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• Symbology-based self-configuring verifier
16 FEB 2010, U.S.
Patent No. 7,661,596 Issued
Abstract - A self-configuring verifier for
performing standardized evaluation and verification of the print quality of a
data carrying graphical symbol is structured with a plurality of illumination
sources and at least one imaging device. The verifier is capable of
automatically determining the symbology of the graphical symbol to be evaluated,
and establish a pre-defined illumination pattern and possibly other settings, as
required, to satisfy pre-defined evaluation standards. Once the illumination
pattern is established and setup is complete, the verifier may fully evaluate
and report on the quality of at least one data carrying graphical symbol imaged
by the imaging device of the verifier.
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•
Verifying the Bar Code Verifier
JAN 2010, Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News,
"News"
For years, users of linear bar codes have
been able to do something 2-D bar codes users haven’t—confirm the accuracy of
bar code verification systems through the use of a Calibrated Conformance
Standard Test Card (CCSTC). These cards can be used for verifier calibration but
are principally designed as a tool to test a verifier for conformance as per
ISO/IEC specifications. In December, however, GS1 US announced the availability
of the ISO/IEC Data Matrix and GS1 DataMatrix CCSTC, featuring 2-D bar code
symbols of exact dimensional and reflectance values.
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•
Here Comes The Judge…The 2D Judge™
27 NOV 2009, SCAN: The DATA
CAPTURE Report
PIPS, Inc. selected by GS1 US to produce Data Matrix
conformance test cards and operate the 2D Judge™ high-resolution metrology
instrument.
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•
GS1 DataMatrix: FNC1 vs GS as the Variable-Length Field Separator Character
NOV 2009, Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News, Author: George Wright IV
The GS1 General Specification requires the use of FNC1 but the transmitted
data are the same if GS (Group Separator) is encoded instead. Does it really
matter?
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•
PACKAGE PRINTING AND CODING: Digital Bar Code Basics: Split Hairs, Not Pixels
MAY 2008, Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News, Author: George Wright IV
As digital printing becomes more common in pharmaceutical and medical or
surgical packaging, the incidence of poor-quality linear bar codes with low decodability grades could occur if digital printing equipment manufacturers,
purchasers, and users do not become better acquainted with the
resolution-dependent limitations of these systems.
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•
Generating Quality Digital Bar Code Masters
MAY 2007, Pharmaceutical &
Medical Packaging News, Author: George Wright IV
Not every digital bar code
image is a bar code “master,” that is, a high-quality, first-generation bar code
image (digital or otherwise) suitable for producing printing mats or plates and,
ultimately, an accurate and reliably readable printed symbol. Because bar codes
are nothing more than a series of varying-width bars or lines, it is critical
that these bars be produced with precise widths and spacing.
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•
Code Blue
APR 2007, Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News, Author: John Conroy
Pharmaceutical firms are complying with FDA’s 2006 rule requiring standardized
bar codes for drugs distributed in hospitals. However, some equipment suppliers
worry that poor bar code quality could undercut the new regulation’s intent to
lower hospital error rates.
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•
GS1 Renames Reduced Space Symbology as GS1 DataBar
APR 2007, Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News, Author: George Wright IV
In a move that caught
many automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) industry professionals by
surprise, GS1 announced on February 14 at its annual meeting of national member
organizations (such as GS1 US, GS1 Canada, GS1 UK, etc.), that it was changing
the name of Reduced Space Symbology, often referred to as RSS, to GS1 DataBar.
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•
Garment with embedded data
27 MAR 2007,
U. S.
Patent 7,195,165 Issued
Abstract - A system and method are provided for using machine-readable
technology to uniquely identify garments and to associate the garments with
particular users, wherein the machine-readable technology is designed to
withstand the various environments that are imposed upon a garment during
its lifetime. The machine-readable technology includes identification
tracking markers such as bar codes, magnetic tags, and other identification
tracking markers that withstand laundering, mending, sterilizing and other
processing.
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PDF of Front
Page
•
Facing a Bar Code Deadline
APR 2006, Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News, Author: David Vaczek
Firms look to meet FDA mandate for quality bar
coding with a spectrum of printing options. Read more:
Article Text
•
Fundamentals of ANSI/ISO Bar Code Print Quality Verification – Part I
MAR 2004, Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News, Author: George Wright IV
Whatever the bar coding application, standardized bar code print quality
verification is essential.
Healthcare bar code application guidelines
from EAN.UCC and HIBCC require a minimum overall symbol print quality grade of
C. This is the equivalent of 1.5 on the 0.0-4.0 numeric scale. The grade is
determined according to the globally accepted standard for calculating bar code
print quality: ISO/IEC 15416, Information technology–Automatic identification
and data capture techniques–Bar code print quality test specification–Linear
symbols. This ISO standard supersedes ANSI X3.182-1990.
Here are some important points to consider when selecting a verifier and
developing a bar code print quality verification protocol. Scanning is not
verification. A bar code scanner is a data collection tool. Its purpose is to
decode or read the data encoded in the symbol and to pass this information on to
a computer system. Ideally, it should do this easily and quickly, even on poorer
quality bar codes. A bar code print quality verifier is a quality assessment
instrument. It is intended to evaluate, measure, and report with accuracy and
repeatability specific physical characteristics of a bar code to quantify the
likelihood that it will be readily decoded. A verifier should perform in strict
accordance with globally accepted ISO specifications.
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•
Method and apparatus for U.P.C./EAN symbology
ambiguous character compensation by localized thermal energy dot adjustment
29 DEC 1998, U.S. Patent
5,853,252 Issued (Continuation of U.S. Patent 5,676,473)
Abstract - A method and apparatus is disclosed
that can be used to print the U.P.C./EAN symbology in a way that does not
suffer poor print quality over a range of ink spread conditions by applying
appropriately more or less thermal energy to at least one row of dots on the
internal edges of the ambiguous characters. The resultant characters have
identical edge-to-edge measurements to those without the compensation; but,
the sum of the widths of the bars are beneficially adjusted. The resulting
print quality grades and scanning performance are enhanced on thermal
printer platforms of moderate to high resolution.
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Full Text
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Page
•
Method and apparatus for U.P.C./ean
symbology ambiguous character compensation by localized thermal energy
dot adjustment
14 OCT 1997,
U.S. Patent 5,676,473 Issued
Abstract
- A method and
apparatus is disclosed that can be used to print the U.P.C./EAN
symbology in a way that does not suffer poor print quality over a
range of ink spread conditions by applying appropriately more or
less thermal energy to at least one row of dots on the internal
edges of the ambiguous characters. The resultant characters have
identical edge-to-edge measurements to those without the
compensation; but, the sum of the widths of the bars are
beneficially adjusted. The resulting print quality grades and
scanning performance are enhanced on thermal printer platforms of
moderate to high resolution.
Read more: Full Text
PDF of Front
Page
