Tool to generate/decode POSTNET barcodes. POSTNET (Postal Numeric Encoding Technique) is a barcode standard used in the United States for mail routing.
Barcode POSTNET - dCode
Tag(s) : Character Encoding, Image Processing
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The POSTNET Barcode format allows coding only numbers. It generally contains the ZIP postal code (5 digits) and sometimes 4 additional digits (ZIP+4) for the Delivery point (DP) which corresponds to an even more precise mail collection point.
Each digit is coded in 5 bits, represented by short or long bars. The POSTNET correspondence table is:
0 | 11000 | 1 | 00011 |
---|---|---|---|
2 | 00101 | 3 | 00110 |
4 | 01001 | 5 | 01010 |
6 | 01100 | 7 | 10001 |
8 | 10010 | 9 | 10100 |
A complete POSTNET barcode begins and ends with a bit 1 (long line), it also includes a check digit before the final 1.
The decryption of the POSTNET Code consists of reading binary short (= 0) and long (= 1) bands and then translating them via the coding table.
Example: A message 1 00011 00101 00110 1 translates to 123
POSTNET checksum is missing in this example
The POSTNET code uses a basic checksum: add all the digits and keep the digit of units $ N $. The checksum is $ 10 - N \mod 10 $.
Example: The number 678 has for sum of digits $ 6+7+8 = 21 $, the unit digit is $ 1 $. The checksum is $ 10 - 1 = 9 $.
The POSTNET barcode has a graphic form made up of long and short lines.
The POSTNET barcode has a variable length.
The POSTNET barcode begins and ends with a long line.
The binary reading of the POSTNET barcode has a length equal to 2 modulo 5 (because 2 bits 1 are added both the beginning and at the end and the remaining characters are on 5 bits).
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