Telepen barcode is a type of linear barcode which is used to encode all the 128 ASCII character. Telepen barcode improves and enhances 128 a barcode in a way that in Telepen barcode, all the 128 ASCII characters can be encoded without having to use a shift character in order to switch code. Another improvement in Telepen barcode is that now only two variations of barcode width are required in order to encode all the ASCII characters where as previously in case of code 128, a total of four width variations were required to encode complete ASCII character set.
History & Purpose
Telepen barcode standard was developed by the Chairman of SB Electronics, George Sims in the year 1972. The basic purpose of developing Telepen barcode was developing a compact and highly secure linear barcode standard which could encode all the ASCII characters with minimum width variations and without using any shift operator. These were the basic requirements which no barcode could meet before the advent of Telepen barcode.
Advantages
· Numeric only mode of Telepen barcode can be double density.
· Telepen barcode can encode 16 digits or 8 ASII characters per inch which results in an extremely compact barcode.
· Fault tolerance up to 0.4x.
· Telepen barcode is extremely easy to print with fixed ratio of 3:1.
· Telepen barcode is extremely secure and there is a very little risk that the information is wrongly decoded.
· Telepen barcode is supported by almost all the leading barcode manufacturer as well as barcode encoding and decoding devices.
Limitations
Like other linear barcode, Telepen barcode lacks density and fault tolerance. Although with respect to linear barcode, it is quite dense and fault tolerant, yet it lags behind in these attributes when compared to 2-D barcodes.
Usage
· Telepen barcode is widely used in education sector of many countries, particularly in UK, Telepen barcode is used in public as well private libraries to keep record and information regarding books and other similar stuff.
· Telepen barcode standard is also being used in the automobile industry of the United Kingdom along with the ministry of defense.