NLS-Glossary

One thousandth of an inch (0.001 inch), or approximately 0.0254 millimeter. Commonly used to refer to the width of bar code elements, for example, 0.013 inch would be expressed as 13 mils.

A white space will reflect more light than a black bar. The minimum reflectivity difference is the variance between the least amount of light reflected by the narrowest white space, and the most amount of light reflected by the widest black bar. Minimum reflectivity difference is one measure of the read-ability of the bar code symbol.

The situation which occurs when a bar code reading device detects a bar code symbol incorrectly (different than intended). A mis-read may be due to a defective symbol, to a mis-match between the reading device and the printed symbol, or to a defective reader or decoder. A mis-read may occur as as substitution error (the reader substitutes an incorrect character) or as a transposition error, or as a missing character in a character string.

A condition which occurs when the data output of a reader/decoder does not agree with the data encoded in the bar code field.                                                                              

The smallest element in a barcode symbol. A module has a width, height, or diameter that is equivalent to the X dimension of the barcode.                                                               

Sometimes shortened to "mod." A calculation that is used to find the check digits for a barcode symbol; this calculation is based on a particular number, such as 10. For example, a simple modulo 10 calculation sums the digits that are encoded in the symbol and then appends the check digit that makes the digits add up to a multiple of 10.