MaxiCode is a public domain

Public domain

Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...

, machine-readable symbol system originally created and used by United Parcel Service

United Parcel Service

United Parcel Service, Inc. , typically referred to by the acronym UPS, is a package delivery company. Headquartered in Sandy Springs, Georgia, United States, UPS delivers more than 15 million packages a day to 6.1 million customers in more than 220 countries and territories around the...

. Suitable for tracking and managing the shipment of packages, it resembles a barcode

Barcode

A barcode is an optical machine-readable representation of data, which shows data about the object to which it attaches. Originally barcodes represented data by varying the widths and spacings of parallel lines, and may be referred to as linear or 1 dimensional . Later they evolved into rectangles,...

, but uses dot

Dot

- Typography :* Full stop, also called period in American English, used as a sentence terminator and as a decimal separator in numerals - Typography :* Full stop, also called period in American English, used as a sentence terminator and as a decimal separator (decimal point) in numerals -...

s arranged in a hexagonal grid instead of bars. MaxiCode has been standardised under ISO/IEC 16023.

A MaxiCode symbol (internally called "Bird's Eye", "Target", or "ups code") appears as a 1 inch square, with a bullseye

Bullseye (target)

The bullseye, or bull's-eye, is the centre of a target , and by extension the name given to any shot that hits the bullseye...

 in the middle, surrounded by a pattern of hexagonal dots. It can store about 93 characters of information, and up to 8 MaxiCode symbols can be chained together to convey more data. The centered symmetrical bullseye is useful in automatic symbol location regardless of orientation, and it allows MaxiCode symbols to be scanned even on a package traveling rapidly.

MaxiCode symbology

Symbology

Symbology concerns the study of symbols.Symbology may also refer to:-Academics:* Semiotics, study of signs and symbols* Iconography, branch of art history which studies images...

 was released by UPS in 1992.

Structured Carrier Message

MaxiCode symbols using modes 2 and 3 include a Structured Carrier Message containing key information about a package. This information is protected with a strong Reed-Solomon error correction code, allowing it to be read even if a portion of the symbol is damaged. These fields include:

1. A 4-bit indication of the mode in use, currently either mode 2 or mode 3.
2. A national or international postal code
   Postal code
   A postal code is a series of letters and/or digits appended to a postal address for the purpose of sorting mail. Once postal codes were introduced, other applications became possible.In February 2005, 117 of the 190 member countries of the Universal Postal Union had postal code systems...
   
   . MaxiCode supports both numeric postal codes (e.g. a ZIP Code
   ZIP Code
   ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
   
   ), and alphanumeric postal codes.
3. A 3-digit country code
   Country code
   Country codes are short alphabetic or numeric geographical codes developed to represent countries and dependent areas, for use in data processing and communications. Several different systems have been developed to do this. The best known of these is ISO 3166-1...
   
    encoded per ISO 3166
   ISO 3166
   ISO 3166 is a standard published by the International Organization for Standardization . It defines codes for the names of countries, dependent territories, special areas of geographical interest, and their principal subdivisions . The official name of the standard is Codes for the representation...
   
   
4. A 3-digit class of service code assigned by the carrier

The structured portion of the message is stored in the inner area of the symbol, near the bull's-eye pattern. (In modes that do not include a structured portion, the inner area simply stores the beginning of the message.)

Application-Specific Information

Irrespective of mode, a variable amount of application-specific information can be encoded in a MaxiCode symbol. This format of this additional data is not strictly defined, and amongst other information may include:

• Purchase order number
• Customer reference
• Invoice number
• Tracking number
• Indicator of the originating carrier

Modes

• Mode 0 - Obsolete mode superseded by modes 2 and 3. (Older printers will produce Mode 0 if the firmware is outdated. Mode 0 MaxiCodes can be visually determined by examining the two horizontal hexagons in the upper right-hand corner. They will be white if the Mode is 0. For all other modes, they are black.)
• Mode 1 - Obsolete mode superseded by mode 4.
• Mode 2 - Formatted data containing a structured Carrier Message with a numeric postal code. (Primary use is US domestic destinations.)
• Mode 3 - Formatted data containing a structured Carrier Message with an alphanumeric postal code. (Primary use is international destinations.)
• Mode 4 - Unformatted data with Standard Error Correction.
• Mode 5 - Unformatted data with Enhanced Error Correction.
• Mode 6 - Used for programming hardware devices.

UPS labels use Mode 2 or Mode 3 MaxiCodes.

Software information

MaxiCode-capable software includes (but is not limited to) the following:

Windows-based applications:
Loftware,Inc.
LLM 32 - (Capable of producing compressed MaxiCode.),
BarTender - Seagull Scientific http://www.seagullscientific.com,
VersaStyle - Bell-Mark

AS/400 applications:
CYBRA

CYBRA

- History :CYBRA Corporation was founded as a New York corporation in 1985. The Company is a software developer, publisher, and systems integrator in the IBM midrange market...

's MarkMagic Software http://www.cybra.com,
NeoMedia http://www.neom.com,
Quadrant Software http://quadrantsoftware.com,
and T.L. Ashford http://www.tlashford.com,

Printer languages:
Zebra - ZPLII
Example code: ^XA^FO100,100^BD^FH^FD001840600612301[)>_1E01_1D961Z00009861_1DUPSN_1D62X732_1D125_1D7654321_1D1/1_1D30_1DY_1D123 MAIN ST_1DCHICAGO_1DIL_1E_04^FS^XZ

Bell-Mark - BMPL Example code:
(SOH)AM[1]6280;10829;0;51;0;0;1;1;4;0(ETB)
(SOH)BM[1]BELL-MARK EASYPRINT(ETB)

External links

• Source for official MaxiCode technical specification
• Information about MaxiCode is available in US Patents , , and
• Online MaxiCode Generator