Overview

DIN EN ISO/IEC 15438 specifies the requirements for the bar code symbology known as PDF417. The standard specifies symbology characteristics, character encodation, symbol formats, dimensions, error correction rules, reference decoding algorithm, and a number of application parameters. Bar code technologies are based on the recognition of patterns consisting of bars and spaces of defined dimensions, according to rules defining the translation of characters into such patterns. A number of procedures are provided for encoding information in bar code form. Such procedures are known as symbologies. A full set of translation rules is called symbology specification. Manufacturers of bar code equipment and users of bar code technology require publicly available international standards to which they can refer when developing equipment and application standards in order to ensure a common understanding - and therewith global interoperability. Manufacturers and users still use the term bar code symbologies instead of symbologies even if it actually concerns the identification of two-dimensional patterns. The representation of PDF417 characters in a stacked format is, in contrast to the actual 2-D symbologies, such as QR Code or DataMatrix, a (two-dimensional) variant of one-dimensional codes. Each individual PDF417 symbol consists of a stack of vertically aligned bar code rows with a minimum of 3 rows and maximum 90 rows. Each individual row includes between 1 and 30 symbols, excluding start, stop and row indicator columns. Each individual character of the symbology consists of four bars and four spaces with variable width. Furthermore, DIN EN ISO/IEC 15438 contains normative specifications for a compact variant (Compact PDF417), which is applied when, on the one hand, there is little space and, on the other hand, the risk of damage of the individual symbols is rather low. Furthermore, the standard describes procedures, where data blocks which are too large to be represented by a single PDF417 symbol (Macro PDF417) can be split up. DIN EN ISO/IEC 15438:2010 contains the English version of the International Standard ISO/IEC 15438:2006-06 which has been prepared by ISO/IEC JTC 1 SC 31 "Automatic identification and data capture techniques". The European standardization committee CEN/TC 225 "AIDC technologies" has decided to adopt, after ISO/IEC 15438:2001 and according to ISO/IEC 15438:2003, the completely revised updated version of the International Standard into the European body of standards. This new edition replaces EN ISO/IEC 15438:2003. The Committee responsible for DIN EN ISO/IEC 15438 at DIN is NA 043-01-31 AA "Automatische Identifikation und Datenerfassungsverfahren" ("Automatic identification and data capture techniques") at NIA.

Document: references other documents

Responsible national committee

NA 043-04-31 AA - Automatic Identification and Data Capture Techniques  

Responsible european committee

CEN/TC 225 - AIDC technologies  

Responsible international committee

ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 31/WG 1 - Data carrier