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(Universal Perdition Code?)
As a Side-Note: Counting the little "0" at the left (the system code number) and the little "6" at the right (the 1 3 weighted modulo-ten checksum number), there are a total of 6 left-hand digits (fingers) and 6 right-hand digits (fingers).
>Curious Questioner> But, Hey, the 6-digit barcodes only have one of the "six" symbols on them and triple bars on the right. Aren't they OK?
Why a MARK in the Forehead or Right Hand?
With an apology to people "reading" this that don't have the full use of eyes or hands, or are otherwise handicapped, here is another exercise: On a small scrap of paper (about 1 inch square) write the letters "LLL". Turned upside down, that's the number "777". (Something to consider if you think "999" is OK.) Put your left hand palm down on the table, pick up that 777 mark and lay it on your left hand. Where is it? Yes, "on" your left hand. Pick up that 777 mark again, turn your left hand palm up, and place the mark in your left hand. Where is that 777 mark? Yes, "in" your left hand. Do you see the difference between "on" and "in" with that example? Therefore, if you took something with a 666 mark on it, and held it "in" your right hand, it would not be "on" but "in" your right hand!
Do you consider yourself safe, just because you don't have the "mark" or the "name" yet? If you "buy" from people that "sell" products with a subtle form of the "number", and you pick that "number" up in your right hand. . .
By the way, George J. Laurer, the INVENTOR of the UPC claims the "resemblance" of the "guard" bars to the right-handed 6 is coincidental, like the fact that he has 6 letters (as he says) in his First, Middle and Last name. Coincidence? About as coincidental as (6 letters each) Ronald Wilson Reagan who bought a house with street number 666.
Skip Bottom Notes (If you accessed them from Links in main text above already.) Note: Several updates and new info have been added after the SYSTEM footnote. Standard UPC Layout - Starting at the left of the regular symbol following the light margin, it is encoded first with "guard bars," described [elsewhere], followed by a number system character, followed by five UPC characters on the left side of the center bars, and then with the remaining five UPC characters on the right side of the center bars, followed by a modulo-10 check character. Finally, "the same guard bars" are used at the right side, followed by the light margin. RETURN to main text. Units - The "official" UPC documentation uses the word "modules" instead of "units", and refers to each symbol "character" as 7 modules. Using binary 0 to represent light/space modules and binary 1 to represent DARK/bar modules, the Left 6 is 0101111 and the Right 6 is 1010000. In plainer words, the Left symbol is an INVERSE (negative) image of the Right symbol. On the smaller 6-digit UPC version E labels, a MIRROR image of the Right symbol is used. Likewise, the International version (called EAN) uses mirror-image right hand symbols as a second TYPE (B) of Left hand symbol, in addition to the normal Left hand symbol. (And it is possible to have a mirror image version of the normal Left hand symbol too.)
6 = 1010000 Standard Right hand symbol (Version A, UPC or EAN) System Code - The 1st number of the 12-digit code is the System code, used to identify the type of code, such as "0" for regular UPC, and "5" for redemption coupons. Three of the Ten System Code numbers [were] reserved for future use.
* UPDATE From Uniform Code Council --
FURTHER UPDATES [excerpts] From Uniform Code Council --
A Rose by any other name still has thorns that slash your hand. The Universal Perdition Code by any other name still has score marks. Some other names-- UPC = Universal Product Code (or Uniform Product Code) UCC-12 = Alternate name for UPC (without the P for Perdition?) EAN = European Article Number (Expanded version of UPC) JAN = Japanese Article Number (Expanded version of UPC) GTIN = Global Trade Item Number (Expanded versions of UPC) Proof of Purchase = Alternate name for UPC - (So, can shoplifters claim that as proof they didn't steal it? :) Brand Seal = Alternate name for UPC "Visit Us" = UPC with, (yes, you guessed it,) with a WEB address. What are they trying to hide? It is still a UPC barcode with slash marks! NEW: From History of Barcodes-- Meanwhile, the technology has been creeping into other industries and organizations. Researchers have mounted tiny bar codes on bees to track the insects' mating habits. The U.S. Army uses two-foot-long bar codes to label fifty-foot boats in storage at West Point. Hospital patients wear bar-code ID bracelets.
RETURN to main text. Checksum - The last of the 12 digits is a modulo-10 error checking digit, used to verify that the other digits were entered/scanned without error. Both the 12-digit UPC and 13-digit EAN codes have the check digit at the end.The 6-digit version E UPC encodes the check number within the parity pattern of 2 types of characters, Left A (normal) or Left B (Mirror image of Right bars, which is the same as the EAN Left B.) See Zero Suppression note. Additionally, the EAN encodes its 13th digit within the pattern of the 2 types (A & B) of Left hand characters. The modulo-10 Checksum for UPC number is calculated thus: Step 0: (Drop Rightmost checksum number.) Step 1: From the RIGHT, Add every Other number & multiply by 3. Step 2: Add the other (remaining) numbers together. Step 3: Add the results of steps 1 and 2 together. Step 4: Subtract the RIGHTMOST digit of Step 3's result from 10. SAMPLE: 012345021138 Step 0: 01234502113_ Step 1: 0+2+4+0+1+3 =10x3=30 Step 2: 1+3+5+2+1 =12 Step 3: 12 + 30 = 42 Step 4: 10-2=8 Checksum Verified: |012345|011138|The EAN-13 (13-digit European Article Number) checksum is calculated the same way as the UPC. (EAN adds a 13th digit on the Left Hand, encoded within a parity pattern.) RETURN to main text. Version E / Zero Suppression - The 6-digit Version E UPC is simply a SCRUNCHED representation of the normal 12-digit Version A UPC. Only UPC numbers that begin with zero and have at least 4 zeroes in the central area may be compressed. That eliminates 5 digits. The error Check digit on the end is also eliminated by encoding its value into one of ten patterns of odd or Even symbols within the 6-digit code.
For example: |099600|000626| is scrunched by suppressing 0's to: | 996 | 62 | according to type "3" rules and becomes: |996623| (Type 3 is manufacturer numbers ending in 600.) |EoooEE| Pattern (o=normal Left barcode, E=mirrored Right barcode) |996623|"EoooEE" is pattern #6, the last digit error Check value of the original code. RETURN to previous text. Sinister means "on the left hand side", as opposed to Dexter which means "on the right hand side." With zero suppression, the 12-digit code is scrunched into a left handed 6-digit code. That of course is symbolic of the fact that the Beast loses the use of his hand (and his right eye) after his head is wounded with a sword.
"Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened." (Zechariah 11:17 Author's Version 1611 AV) The Inventor of the UPC, George J. Laurer, graduated from the University of Maryland, and joined IBM as a "Jr. Engineer" in 1951, and by 1969 was a "Senior Engineer/Scientist". Around 1970, the UGPCC (Uniform Grocery Product Code Council - now UCC = Uniform Code Council) defined a numeric format for the identification of products and requested proposals for a code and symbol. Concerning IBM's proposal, George Laurer said: >GL> Therefore, in 1971 I was given the task by IBM management to design the best code and symbol suitable for the grocery industry. After considerable effort I conceived an approach and detailed the symbol.In another (last revised 7Oct1999) page by George [Joseph?] Laurer detailing "U.P.C. Questions and Answers", the following was extracted: >GL> Question #9 - Why are there two ways to encode each digital value and when is each used? 12/6/98Note on "value 6" above. With so many 6's associated with the UPC, George probably had "6" on the brain with that typo. The 6 letters "EOEEOO" are actually the parity pattern for check digit value 4. Note also that his Even "6" above, coded "0000101" (or WWWWBWB) is not the right handed six, but the type B left hand six. The type A is "0101111" (or WBWBBBB), and type C (the right hand 6) is defined below. (That makes 3 different kinds of 6 symbols.) >GL> Question #8 - Rumor has it that the lines (left, middle, and right) that protrude below the U.P.C. code are the numbers 6,6,6... and that this is the international money code. I typed a code with all sixes and this seems to be true. At least they all resemble sixes. What's up with that? 11/11/98Oh yeah, uh huh, sure... OBVIOUSLY there's nothing Sinister (left handed) about the Right handed (Dexter) SIX. Now, this inventive person seems like a fine friendly fellow and all, but I don't "buy" that subtile sales pitch! After all, "the love of money is the root of all evil"! No connection with money? The "system 5" UPC [redemption coupons] certainly include monetary "value" digits. ("Awake thou that sleepest!" :) >GL> Question #7 - You state that the presence of "666" (left, middle, and right) in bar codes has no relation to the Biblical scripture referring to that number. However, you do not state where you came up with that number. Was it purely random (which I doubt, since you probably put great thought in every aspect of your invention), or does it serve a purpose? Or does the bar/space representation of a "6" just provide for a ascetically good separator? 2/125/99"The goal" explains why the 6-symbol "center bars" are zero suppressed to take up less "area" than the normal "7 modules" width characters. Notice that he admits that the choice of the "6" symbol was not random, but "arbitrary", meaning "based on volition or preference." ("Volition is the actual exercise of the power which the mind has of considering or forbearing to consider an idea." --Webster's Dictionary 1969 ed.) >GL> Answer [#3]- The center pattern, which is shared by both the right and left halves of the symbol, serves to tell the logic which direction the beam is crossing the symbol (note that scanners need not read both halves of the symbol on the same pass nor in the same direction). The distance from the starting edge to the end of the second bar is 4 modules. The logic determines that this "character" is much more narrow than the others, thus it is the center. If 0010100 were used the character width would be 5 modules, still quite narrow, but less distinctive. Another reason, perhaps more important, is it reduces the overall width by 2 modules allowing the printing tolerances to be increased ever so slightly. Nothing would be gained by the wider center character, 0010100. [end quote] [ Update: I am sorry, but as of November 2000, I will no longer respond to questions about the U.P.C. and the New Testamant --George J. Laurer ]
DECIMAL number 666 is BINARY 1010011010 (Begins with 101 "guard" bars!) The mirror of that number is 0101100101 (same as negative image)Notice the two halves: ||01011||00101|| (The left half is a negative mirror image of the right half.) The 2 or 5 digit "supplemental" symbols use "1011" for left guard bars. Under system "7" that "0101100101" is a product code for "Furry Friend Fashions" (3 F's, the 6th letter. Coincidence you say?) The Beast may be a furry friend to the world, but woe be unto them that worship him or receive his mark. (Why, sure man, the cat-lovers friend: Two parts cuddly cat and one part teddy bear! Oh, oh, the fourth part is a 7-headed SCARLET DRAGON!)
Did you notice that Rev.13:11 begins with two vertical "guard" bars? || Did you notice that the foot of the two horned "guard" is cloven? ("Old split foot" shows up in wild places.) This Page = 9 U.P.C.
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URL of this page: http://members.aol.com/RichClark7/rev/upc2.htm