KIX barcode symbology is a type of linear barcode standard based on famous 4 State barcode symbology. KIX Barcode symbology is capable of encoding numeric digits from 0-9 and alphabets from A-Z; however it cannot encode special characters. KIX Barcode symbology is commonly used in Royal Dutch TPG Post (Netherlands) in order to encode routing information about the mail or parcel. KIX Barcode is also commonly known as. Dutch KIX barcode, Klantenindex Barcode, Royal TNT Post Kix, Dutch KIX 4-State Barcode, Kix Barcode, TPG KIX , TPGPOST KIX.
Structure
KIX barcode is based on 4 state barcode symbology and consists of vertical bars of varying length in order to encode data. Each character is represented by a pattern of 4 bars. All the barcodes based on 4 state barcode symbology are somewhat similar in properties and structure. However difference between variants of 4 state barcodes lie in the checksum calculation algorithm which is different for all the state 4 barcodes. KIX Barcode also has a unique t checksum calculation algorithm.
Advantages
Following are some of the advantages that KIX Barcode has over other barcode standards.
KIX Barcode utilized a very straight forward algorithm for encoding and decoding algorithm which is easier to understand.
No specialized and complex hardware scanners are required for decoding barcode information.
Security is provided thorough checksum digit which automatically ensures the integrity of data.
Limitations
KIX Barcode have a very limited barcode fault tolerance and if in case barcode image is damaged, it cannot successful decode the information.
KIX barcode, like other 4 state barcodes, cannot encode all the ASCII characters; they can only encode characters and numeric.
Data density of KIX barcode is very limited and in order to store large amount of data the width of the barcode has to be increased.
Usage
Primary user of KIX Barcode is the Netherlands (Dutch) postal services. Who use this code for routing mails across the country by encoding information such as the receivers address, the source and the delivery points etc.