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Imager Manual

1. BAR CODE SYMBOLOGIES A bar code is a graphical representation of characters A bar code symbol contains a sequence of varying width bars and spaces representing the characters encoded in the bar code The actual pattern necessary to encode a particular character is dependent upon the type of bar code The length of a bar code is dependent upon the type of bar code the number of data characters encoded and the bar space ratios Different bar code symbologies support different character sets Numeric symbologies can encode only numbers Other symbologies can encode alphanumeric characters and some can encode the entire ASCII character set Bar code symbologies may be discrete or continuous In a discrete code each character can stand alone and be decoded independently from the adjacent characters Each character begins and ends with a bar and is separated from its neighbor by a loosely toleranced intercharacter gap that contains no information In a continuous code each character begins with a bar and ends with a space The end of one character is indicated by the start of the next character There are no intercharacter gaps A continuous code is denser requiring less symbol length to encode a given amount of data A bar code symbol encodes data in the widths of the bars and spaces A bar code symbology may employ only two element widths wide and narrow or may employ multiple widths The widths of the elements are s
2. 4444ssnnnnnnnennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnennnnnnnennnnnnnennnnnsnnnn nenn 51 Image Mode lntroduetion 22 RA dde 56 Image Mode Commands List 22 2 ee ei nern 56 Decimal to Hexadecimal to ASCII Conversion uuuuuuunnunnnnnnnnnnnunnnnnunnnnnnnnnnn 61 Imager Specifications 0 un eee eee 63 Introduction The Imager is a printer resident graphics coprocessor board that has been designed specially for the Printek FormsMaster 8000 Series Printers The primary function is to translate QMS Magnum Code V Version 1 commands into graphic commands for the printer The image command syntax allows previously designed bar code labels which require OMS Magnum controllers to print on the FormsMaster 8000 with comparable print results The Imager is capable of generating all bar codes described in this manual as well as imager mode font characters The Imager will compute any necessary bar code check digits insert any required start and stop characters and convert all characters to the desired bar code format If requested the Imager will also automatically print the bar code data as human readable text below the bar code The Imager can easily repeat a label several times across the page and or down the page so it is only necessary to send one copy of the label THEORY OF OPERATION The Imager graphics coprocessor board is installed inside the printer where it communicates directly with the main logic of the printe
3. 3 5 2 9 5 0 FormsMaster 8000 Series Imager Graphics Coprocessor Copyright 1993 1998 by Printek Inc 1517 Townline Road Benton Harbor MI 49022 616 925 3200 Part Number 4546 Acknowledgements QMS and Magnum are registered trademarks of Quality Micro Systems Printek is a registered trademark of Printek Inc Epson is a registered trademark of Seiko Epson Proprinter is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Co Specifications subject to change without notice Table of Contents Introduction PERREREEREREREERERREREREEREREREERERREREREREERERRERERRERERERRERERREREREEEEREREEREEREREREEEEREERERERRE 1 Theory of Oprator a Avie hah id al 1 Notations and Conventions ooooonono no i rn o 2 mager A ann EEE 5 Imager OvervieW a jk k 9 Pass T hru MOde ia A sinne 9 Filter Mode 2 22 A HH ON 9 Image Mode aaa Han anna ll aed eee 9 Processing Characteristics iv a ln 9 QMS Magnum and Imager Differences o oororrov vononnno rr ne 10 Performance Considerati ns rn dt o o oi 10 Label Design Considerations oerein nian ne on ann 10 Buffered Overlay Overview nen neh nn ea na nn nie 11 Basic CommandsS cc nn nn nn HEHE nn 13 Turning the Imager On and Oct i 13 Eree Formate tir A an 13 Ignore Character strict nt ridad 14 Changing the Image Control Character oooonccccnnnnncccnnnaccccnnnoncccnononccnna non rc cn nar rc rn arar rr rr 14 Printi
4. define variable repeat loop command not to be confused with the regular filter mode define repeat loop command and the C block copy command These two special buffer overlay commands are mutually exclusive That is they cannot be used within the same buffer overlay label 44 REPETITIVE PRINTING The R command used in conjunction with the B command unlike the regular filter mode define repeat loop command has no associated parameters It performs a similar function of repeating a command sequence but the repeat count is supplied as part of the variable data immediately following the buffer overlay termination command The following buffer overlay example contains a repeat PY AE A BUFFER OVERLAY amp REPEAT AB AR FIRST NAME 15 BYTES A 015 AN LAST NAME 20 BYTES 11020 A AA Z 0002 JOE BLOW 0003 FRED SMITH 0001 LISA JONES 0000 G O PN It will produce the following result activate filter mode eat all carriage control data to print one time start buffer overlay start repeat sequence constant text variable field 1 CR and LF constant text variable field 2 CR and 2 LFs terminate the R command buffer overlay terminator print field 1 amp 2 twice variable data field 1 variable data field 2 print field 1 amp 2 3 times variable data field 1 variable data field 2 print field 1 amp 2 once variable data field 1 vari
5. 59 REFERENCE SECTION AY command This command is used to automatically increment or decrement numeric fields These numeric fields may be text bar code data or other command parameters Use of this command is most powerful when used inside of a repeating sequence which is controlled by the R repeat command or the B buffered overlay command The command format is Ynnnsiii G where nnn Numeric data to be modified S Sign increment decrement iii Increment decrement value AG Command terminator 60 Decimal to Hexadecimal to ASCII Conversion Dec Hex ASCH Dec Hex ASCH Dec Hex ASCH 0 00 NUL 43 2B 86 56 V 1 01 SOH 44 2C 87 57 W 2 02 STX 45 2D 88 58 x 3 03 ETX 46 2E 89 59 Y 4 04 EOT 47 2F 90 5A Z 5 05 ENQ 48 30 0 91 5B 6 06 ACK 49 31 1 92 5C 7 07 BEL 50 32 2 93 5D 8 08 BS 51 33 3 94 SE A 9 09 HT 52 34 4 95 SF 7 10 0A LF 53 35 5 96 60 11 0B VT 54 36 6 97 61 a 12 0C FF 55 37 7 98 62 b 13 0D CR 56 38 8 99 63 c 14 0E so 57 39 9 100 64 d 15 OF SI 58 3A 101 65 e 16 10 DLE 59 3B 102 66 f 17 11 DCI 60 3C lt 103 67 g 18 12 DC2 61 3D 104 68 h 19 13 DC3 62 3E gt 105 69 i 20 14 DC4 63 3F 106 6A j 21 15 NAK 64 40 107 6B k 22 16 SYN 65 41 A 108 6C 1 23 17 ETB 66 42 B 109 6D m 24 18 CAN 67 43 6 110 6E n 25 19 EM 68 44 D 111 6F o 26 IA SUB 69 45 E 112 70 p 27 1B ESC 70 46 F 113 71 q 28 1C FS 71 47 G 114 72 r 29 1D GS 72 48 H 115 73 s 30 1E RS 73 49 I 116 74 t 31 1F US 74 4A
6. a scan that does not include both quiet zones of an Interleaved 2 of 5 bar code has a high probability of decoding as a valid but shorter symbol This is due to the simple structure of the start and stop codes a partial scan of an Interleaved 2 of 5 digit can appear to be a start or stop code Because of this Interleaved 2 of 5 is best used in a fixed length application where the scanner is programmed to look for a specific number of digits Leading zeros may be added to maintain fixed length strings Another alternative is to add protection stripes also called bearer bars to the top and bottom of the Interleaved 2 of 5 bar code These prevent a partial scan from being decoded as a valid symbol The following code will generate an Interleaved 2 of 5 bar code with bearer bars 27 BAR CODES PY activate filter mode F turn free format on M10 KF activate image mode 1 0 inch height hi res on T0000 J000 LS01730004 print top bearer bar T0003 J000 BYK0123456789 G print bar code T0000 J083 LS01730004 print bottom bearer bar KF hi res off O turn free format off PN return to pass thru mode 3 5 UPCA 11 Digit The Universal Product Code UPC has been used in the supermarket industry since 1973 It is a fixed length continuous numeric symbology There are three versions of the UPC symbol Version A which encodes 12 digits Version E which encodes six digits and Version D which encodes variable length data Version D is rar
7. as will a pass terminator The state of descenders may be toggled as many times as necessary within the pass Setting descenders on within an image pass will produce an under character gap that would not otherwise be present This is true even ifno lower case characters with descenders are printed This command is valid for image mode graphics fonts It does not include the high resolution fonts which are activated with the image mode S command The high resolution fonts always print the descender characters below the font base line AG command This command is the general purpose terminating command for certain other filter mode and image mode commands It has no parameters and has no meaning unless another command requires its use This terminator is normally used with commands that have a variable non fixed number of parameters The command format is AG AH command This command may be used to change the universal height value within a sequence of image commands When this command is encountered the universal height may have already been set with a M command This command is available to change that value for a bar code The command format is AHnn where nn New universal height in 1 10 inches two digits from 00 to 99 57 REFERENCE SECTION AJ command This command may be used to change the justification vertical positioning value within a sequence of image commands It moves the vertical position for the ne
8. CODE TABLE B Code39 Nm HS DOD Codabar Nome rada K Interleaved20f5 Nome 133 EL Interleaved2of5 Nome 245 Pp UPCA 1 Digit Mod 10 9 UPCE10 Digit Modo 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 1 UCC 128 Pseudo Mod 10 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 Pseudo Mod 103 Mod 10 ETS 22 BAR CODES VARIABLE RATIO BAR CODES The B commands that is used to print standard bar codes is also used to print variable ratio bar codes In fact printing variable ratio bar codes is done in an identical manner except that the desired ratio must also be specified This ratio will override the default ratio that is normally used to print the standard bar code The height of the bar code will be determined by the preceding image commands The command format is Ba9tr rd d G where a Human readable autoprint indicator one character valid entries are Yes No or O CR 9 9 indicating a user defined ratio follows t Bar code type one character see the Standard Bar Code Table r r User defined ratio a variable number of digits depending on bar code type each digit from 1 to F d d Data to encode as a bar code a variable number of characters and or digits G Barcode sequence terminator The r r ratio is specified in pairs of digits representing bar space ratios The number of digits that must be specified depends on the bar code type it will be the same as the number of digits in the default ratio in the Standard Bar Code Tabl
9. For example the command sequence M05 BYDA1234B G will generate the following bar code using the default ratio of 1 2 3 4 1 1 1 1 12348B The command sequence M08 BY9D24681211A2468B G will generate the following bar code using double the default ratio nzdEBE MSI MSI Code 1s primarily used for the marking of retail shelves It is a derivative of Plessey Code which is a pulse width modulated code MSI symbols are variable length low density continuous and not self checking The MSI character set contains the ten digits 0 9 Each character consists of four bars and four spaces with each bar space pair representing one bit of information Zero bits consist of a narrow bar followed by a wide space One bits consist of a wide bar followed by a narrow space An MSI symbol includes a start code data characters optionally one or two check digits and a stop code The start code stop code and check digit s will be included automatically by the Imager A bar code may contain from 1 to 40 digits MSI bar codes reguire a four digit ratio with the digits representing narrow bar narrow space wide bar wide space For example the command sequence M05 BYG0123456789 G will generate the following bar code using the default ratio of 1 1 2 2 IA ALL AA VA ALE 01234567859 26 BAR CODES The command sequence M08 BY9G22440123456789G will generate the following bar code using doub
10. and print AAR CR and LF Z repeat until 5 have printed O deactivate the F command PN return to pass thru mode REPETITIVE PRINTING 1234 1235 1236 1237 1238 HORIZONTAL REPETITION The S command is used to spread label images across a page It is used to make identical copies of label images from a single label image This command may have two parameters or it may have no parameters If it is used without parameters then it deactivates the current spread function The command format is ASnnww where nn Number of times to replicate the label ww Width of the label to copy in 1 10 inches Includes inter label gap For example the command sequence S0320 M05 BYA123 G S will produce the following result 123 123 123 BUFFERED OVERLAY The buffer overlay definition command is used to define the beginning of a block of data which describes a label image When the Imager encounters the B command it will continue accepting data until a buffer overlay termination command is found All data between the B and the will be saved and processed as a label Other filter mode and image mode commands may be in this buffer overlay sequence The data which fills out the label image is supplied immediately following the command The command has no parameters and has the following format 43 AB An example of buffer overlay follows REPETITIVE PRINTING PY activate filter m
11. begin printing jj 1 10 inches two digits from 00 to 99 e g 10 1 0 inch d Dots 1 72 inches one digit from 0 to 9 e g 7 7 72 inch c c Character or characters to be printed For example M0001000ABCDEFGHIJKL MNOPORSTUVWXYZ0123456789 will print the text string ABCDEFGHIJKL MNOPORSTUVWXY Z0123456789 using a character pitch of 12 cpi ABCOEFGHI JEL NNOPORST UHH 201 23456784 15 Pitch The following command may be used to print characters at 15 cpi The characters will be 0 1 inch high The vertical positioning justification is specified followed by the characters to be printed The command format is AM0100jjde c normal left to right where jjd Justification from the current position Indicates how far down from the top of the pass the characters will begin printing jj 1 10 inches two digits from 00 to 99 e g 10 1 0 inch d Dots 1 72 inches one digit from 0 to 9 e g 7 7 72 inch c c Character or characters to be printed For example M0100000ABCDEFGHIJKL MNOPORSTUVW XY Z0123456789 will print the text string ABCDEFGHIJKL MNOPORSTUVWXY Z0123456789 using a character pitch of 15 cpi ABCDEFGCHIJKLANOPFORSTEUHEYERLII4B6184 HIGH RESOLUTION CHARACTERS Six different high resolution fonts are available through the S command for generating characters Pitch sizes vary but all ofthe characters are 0 1 inch high The OCR A font contains only upper case characters Before
12. e a re Re ol o ah 34 TABLE OF CONTENTS Modification and Positioning Command uuzuunnunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn nn nn nun nen 35 Hall Dots 2d E e a 35 Modifying Heli oa dd 35 Modifying Justification Vertical POSItIONINY oooococnnnnicnnnnnniccnnnoccccnnnonccnnananrc cnn narrar 36 Horizontal Tab xa a a an ae Hann A e 36 Tabbing in Image Mode cto N NA 36 Modifying Reference Position in Filter Mode oooonnnncccnnnnicinnnacoconnnoncccnonanr cn nn nro carr cnnnn rr cnnnnnn 37 Carriag 6 Retiers iee a a AE ra A de eed 37 O es ale ater tele ay desta adobe nace gen tert aerate alee ida edad eat ami al tea 38 NE o EEEIEE ee ce tami oe ce dada ed HL 38 LING SIGWs cc an deli edn att stele AE 38 DOE ii u 39 Repetitive Printing ini a k i i a u k eee 41 Vertical RepetitionM s i tohii aiia a a eo aes aaa 41 Auto Increment Decrement A 42 Horizontal Repetition siiente a Na nie aa 43 B ffered Overlay reteinna are a pa are A en le hai 43 Reference Section 49 Pass Thru Mode Intro dUCHI N sla id Daniel 49 Pass Thru M de GCommand List 2 ee tt das en 49 Filter Mode Introduction 2 2322 Bea Ad zaba A b eee 49 Filter Mode Printer Control Commands 444444444440nsnnnnnennennnnennnnnnnnnnnnnnnennnnnnnnnnnnnnnennnnrnn nn 49 Filter Mode Printer Control Commands List 42444444400H0nnnnnnnnnnennnennnnnnnennennnnnannnnrnnennen 50 Filter Mode Regular Commands List
13. generates hex 0B generates hex 0C form feed generates hex OD carriage return generates hex 0E Al An MH amp M M NX At N x RA N 0 A 22 E M 8 6 A 8 So E No re A A gt A generates hex 1B escape generates hex 1C generates hex 1D generates hex 1E n generates hex 1F EN EN ESTAN ES EN EN EE pa El wi o S 2 generates hex 12 BA Em C Em A E D 51 s 157 Bez e 50 REFERENCE SECTION FILTER MODE REGULAR COMMANDS LIST O Deactivate free format processing quit absorbing carriage control characters N Deactivate filter mode processing and reactivate pass thru mode processing RO Begin repeat loop definition Loop must be terminated by a Z 0 Buffered overlay sequence terminator Sequence must begin with a B command AN A SP A AA command This command will cause all subsequent characters to not be ignored thereby counteracting any X command that was issued previously When the A command is encountered the Imager will stop absorbing or eating all incoming data and will begin examining the data again for other filter mode commands The command format is EA AB command The buffer overlay definition command is used to define the beginning of a block of data which describes a label image When the Imager encounters the B command it will continue accepting data until a buffer ove
14. only to improve the reader s understanding of what the image commands are doing INTRODUCTION The Reference Section of this manual contains a detailed description ofthe command format for each command For example AHnn where nn New universal height in 1 10 inches two digits from 00 to 99 Characters in the command that must be typed exactly as shown H are not italicized Parameters that must be filled in nn are italicized The italicized characters serve only as place holders for the actual values that will be specified Note also that the exact number of characters required have been reserved The use of nn for example implies that two digits must be specified If necessary use a leading zero 3 10 inches would be specified as 03 not as 3 Imager Setup This section describes the various FormsMaster control panel settings which affect the operation of the Imager Although it may be necessary to modify some Imager setup parameters there is a good chance that the Imager will work perfectly with the factory default values You may want to try your printer as 1t 1s before changing any values If you are not already familiar with how to use the Setup features of the printer please refer to the Introduction to Setup section Printer Configuration chapter of the FormsMaster 8000 Series Operator s Manual To access the following items use the SETUP button to access the INTERFACE MENU and press the SUBMENU button until Image
15. previously When the A command is encountered the Imager will stop absorbing or eating all incoming data and will begin examining the data again for other image mode commands The command format is A B command This command is used for printing bar codes The height parameter of the preceding image command M or H will determine the bar code height This command has two possible formats One format allows a user to specify a bar code with a default ratio while the other format allows the user to override the default ratio The command formats are 56 REFERENCE SECTION ABatd d G or ABa9tr rd dAG where a Human readable autoprint indicator valid entries are Yes No or O CR 9 9 indicating a user defined ratio follows t Bar code type see the Standard Bar Code Table r r User defined ratio d d Data to encode as a bar code G Bar code sequence terminator AD command Some lower case characters g j p q y have descenders which are designed to print below the font base line The Imager can print these characters in two different ways aligned at the font base line or descending the appropriate distance below the base line The D command is used to toggle from descenders off to descenders on and vice versa The command format is D When image mode is activated the pass always begins with descenders off The first D will set descenders on A second D will set descenders off
16. provide a way to specify ASCII control codes or Code 128 function codes 32 BAR CODES The Code 128 symbology uses multiple element widths to encode characters Each character has 11 modules which may be either black or white to create three bars and three spaces of varying width Code 128 bar codes require an eight digit ratio with the digits representing 1 module wide bar 1 module wide space 2 module wide bar 2 module wide space 3 module wide bar 3 module wide space 4 module wide bar 4 module wide space For example the command sequence M05 BYZABC123456 G will generate the following bar code using the default ratio of 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 ALO NN ABC1Z3456 The command sequence M08 BY9722446688ABC123456 G will generate the following bar code using double the default ratio ABC123456 UCC 128 UCC 128 is a variant of Code 128 that is used in retail distribution applications for serialized carton tracking The standard Code 128 character set is used except that every symbol begins with a Start C character followed by a Function Code 1 character and only numeric data is encoded In addition to the modulo 103 check digit that is calculated from all the characters excluding the stop code in the bar code a modulo 10 check digit is calculated for the numeric data The Imager automatically generates the Start C character the Function Code 1 character the two check digits and the stop code A UCC 12
17. return to filter mode but it will not generate a form feed In image mode the command is functionally equivalent to the carriage return command LINE SLEW The K and W commands may be used to vertically slew a specified number of lines Each command has a parameter which represents the number of line feeds to generate The actual distance slewed will depend upon the line spacing that is set in the printer typically 1 6 inch or 1 8 inch per line The K and W commands are identical and may be used interchangeably The command format is AKnn or AWnn where nn Number of line feeds to generate two digits from 01 to 99 For example the command sequence K02 will skip two lines The command sequence W02 will do the same These commands must be used in filter mode they may not be embedded in a sequence of image commands in image mode 38 MODIFICATION AND POSITIONING COMMANDS DOT SLEW The D command may be used to vertically slew a specified number of dots 1 72 inches The command format is Danan where nn Number of dots to slew two digits from 01 to 99 For example the command sequence D72 will skip one inch This command must be used in filter mode it may not be embedded in a sequence of image commands in image mode Printing text without entering image mode to do so after using this command may cause the printer to re align itself to the next print line after the text is prin
18. the O command Free format is also disabled when the APN command is used to turn the Imager off IGNORE CHARACTER The X command will cause all subsequent characters to be ignored until a A command is received If a A command is never received then none of the incoming data will be processed or printed Use of the ignore character command is illustrated below AX this text is absorbed eaten A and this data is printed p Ignore character may be useful if a word processor or programming language is sending undesired characters to the printer Ignore character may also be used to embed comments among image commands PY activate filter mode F eat all carriage control X begin ignoring characters This is a comment the comment line will not be printed A stop ignoring characters PN return to pass thru mode When debugging Imager code ignore character may be used to comment out certain lines of code while other lines are being debugged CHANGING THE IMAGE CONTROL CHARACTER Some applications require use of the caret character which is the default image control character for image commands The Ne command may be used to change the image control character to any other printable character c For example the command N would change the image control character to a tilde If you change the image control character be sure that all subseguent image commands use the new control character If an inappropriat
19. using the S command to print characters a PY command must be used to activate filter mode and a M command must be used to activate image mode graphics processing Any number of characters may be printed within the constraint that the characters must fit horizontally on the paper Data which extends beyond the paper will be lost A pass terminator must be encountered before printing will actually occur To change between high resolution fonts within a sequence just issue another S command To change to standard resolution characters another M command must be issued but it is not necessary to start a new pass The command format is ASn where n Font number one digit from 1 to 6 18 CHARACTERS 10 cpi characters per inch 12 cpi 6 10cpiOCR A For example the command sequence M0101000 S60CR A FONT will print the text string OCR A FONT using OCR A characters at a character pitch of 10 cpi OCR A FONT LOWER CASE DESCENDERS Some lower case characters g j p g y have descenders which are designed to print below the font base line The Imager can print these characters in two different ways aligned at the font base line or descending the appropriate distance below the base line The D command is used to toggle from descenders off to descenders on and vice versa The command format is AD When image mode is activated the pass always begins with descenders off The fir
20. 8 bar code must contain 19 data digits a modulo 10 check digit will be calculated for these 19 data digits If 20 data digits are specified the last digit will be interpreted as the modulo 10 check digit and it will be checked for validity The 19 digit data string must begin with 00 to be valid If it begins with other digits the Imager will print a Code 128 bar code instead of a UCC 128 bar code For example the command sequence M05 BY10000012345555555555 G will generate the following bar code using the default ratio of 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 DANDA 1 23455555555555 33 BAR CODES PostNet The Postal Numeric Encoding Technique POSTNET was developed by the U S Postal Service to provide an optimized bar code system for encoding ZIP Code information on letter mail POSTNET may be used to encode five digit ZIP Codes nine digit ZIP 4 Codes and 11 digit Advanced Bar Codes ABC ABC s encode a ZIP 4 Code plus a 2 digit Delivery Point A POSTNET symbol consists of a left frame bar five nine or 11 data digits a check digit and a right frame bar The Imager will automatically generate the frame bars and check digit the programmer must supply the appropriate number of data digits Unlike other bar codes which use variable width bars to encode data POSTNET uses variable height bars Each numeric digit is encoded by a sequence of five bars two of which are full height bars and three of which are half height bars For example t
21. E 15 BYTES LISA FIRST NAME 15 BYTES J LAST NAME 20 BYTES JONES REPETITIVE PRINTING activate filter mode eat all carriage control data to print one time start buffer overlay duplicate to Z 2 times constant text variable field 1 CR and LF terminate the C command constant text variable field 2 CR and 2 LFs buffer overlay terminator variable data field 1 variable data field 2 variable data field 3 variable data field 1 variable data field 2 variable data field 3 variable data field 1 variable data field 2 variable data field 3 end of data turn F command OFF return to pass thru mode 47 REPETITIVE PRINTING 48 Reference Section PASS THRU MODE INTRODUCTION In pass thru mode the Imager simply passes all data received on through to the printer This may be thought of as passive processing or you may think of the Imager as being turned off The only command recognized in pass thru mode is the PY command PASS THRU MODE COMMAND LIST APY command This command is used to activate filter mode This string must be the first printable characters preceding spaces do not count on a new line to be recognized This command has no parameters The command format is APY FILTER MODE INTRODUCTION In order to activate filter mode the command PY must be sent to the printer or Translation On must be specified in the Setup Options menu on the printer s control pane
22. J 117 75 u 32 20 SP 75 4B K 118 76 v 33 21 76 4C L 119 77 w 34 22 t 77 4D M 120 78 x 35 23 78 4E N 121 79 y 36 24 79 4F O 122 7A z 37 25 80 50 P 123 7B 38 26 amp 81 51 Q 124 7C 39 27 82 52 R 125 7D 40 28 83 53 S 126 TE E 41 29 84 54 T 127 TF DEL 42 2A 85 55 U 61 Imager Specifications e Emulates QMS Magnum Code V Characters e Draft quality characters at 10 cpi 12 cpi and 15 cpi e High resolution characters at 10 cpi 12 cpi 13 33 cpi 15 cpi and 17 14 cpi e 0 2 inch high characters at 7 5 cpi e OCR A characters at 10 cpi Forms and Labels e Horizontal and vertical duplication of labels e Auto increment decrement of numeric fields Bar Codes e Code 39 Codabar MSI Interleaved 2 of 5 UPCA 11 digit UPCE 10 digit UPCEO 6 digit UPCEI 6 digit EAN 13 EAN 8 Code 128 A B C UCC 128 PostNet e Standard and variable ratio bar codes e Automatically printed human readable text e Automatically calculated check digits Shading e Horizontal and vertical half dot high resolution modes 63
23. ZERO TO400FOUR will print the text string ZERO one inch not zero inches from the left edge of the printable area and the text string FOUR five inches not four inches from the left ZERO FOUR Do not confuse the T command in filter mode which has been described here with the T command in image mode CARRIAGE RETURN In filter mode the command hat dash will generate a carriage return control code ODh If free format is on this is the only way to send a carriage return to the printer In image mode the command acts as a pass terminator It will force any defined images to print and return to filter mode but it will not generate a carriage return 37 MODIFICATION AND POSITIONING COMMANDS LINE FEED In filter mode the command hat star will generate a line feed control code OAh If free format is on this is the only way to send a line feed to the printer In image mode the command acts as a pass terminator It will force any defined images to print and return to filter mode but it will not generate a line feed In image mode the command is functionally equivalent to the carriage return command FORM FEED In filter mode the command hat comma will generate a form feed control code 0Ch If free format is on this is the only way to send a form feed to the printer In image mode the command acts as a pass terminator It will force any defined images to print and
24. able data field 2 no print end of data turn F command OFF return to pass thru mode 45 REPETITIVE PRINTING A BUFFER OVERLAY amp REPEAT FIRST NAME 15 BYTES JOE LAST NAME 20 BYTES BLOW FIRST NAME 15 BYTES JOE LAST NAME 20 BYTES BLOW FIRST NAME 15 BYTES FRE LAST NAME 20 BYTES SMITH FIRST NAME 15 BYTES FRE LAST NAME 20 BYTES SMITH FIRST NAME 15 BYTES FRE LAST NAME 20 BYTES SMITH FIRST NAME 15 BYTES LISA LAST NAME 20 BYTES JONES The C command used in conjunction with the B command has a two digit parameter It performs a code duplication service All code occurring after the C command and prior to the Z termination command is duplicated the number of times defined by the C parameter The following buffer overlay example contains a block copy 46 PY F A BUFFER OVERLAY amp COPY B AC02 FIRST NAME 15 BYTES A 015 ALNK Z LAST NAME 20 BYTES 020 A NAN JOE E BLOW FRED F SMITH LISA J JONES G O PN It will produce the following result A BUFFER OVERLAY amp COPY FIRST NAME 15 BYTES JOE FIRST NAME 15 BYTES E LAST NAME 20 BYTES BLOW FIRST NAME 15 BYTES FRED FIRST NAME 15 BYTES F LAST NAME 20 BYTES SMITH FIRST NAM
25. ar 1 module wide space 2 module wide bar 2 module wide space 3 module wide bar 3 module wide space 4 module wide bar 4 module wide space For example the command sequence M05 BYT123456123456 G will generate the following bar code using the default ratio URNA MA IN 234561 234560 31 BAR CODES EAN 8 The European Article Numbering system EAN is a superset of UPC and is the international standard bar code for retail food packages An EAN scanner can decode UPC but a UPC scanner typically cannot decode EAN Like UPC EAN is a fixed length continuous numeric symbology AnEAN 8 symbol consists of a left guard pattern four numeric digits a center guard pattern four numeric digits and a right guard pattern The eight numeric digits that are encoded include two flag digits that represent a country code five data digits and one modulo 10 check digit The programmer must specify exactly seven digits The Imager will automatically generate the guard patterns and the check digit The EAN symbology uses multiple element widths to encode characters Each character has seven modules which may be either black or white to create two bars and two spaces of varying width EAN bar codes require an eight digit ratio with the digits representing 1 module wide bar 1 module wide space 2 module wide bar 2 module wide space 3 module wide bar 3 module wide space 4 module wide bar 4 module wide space For example the co
26. ar codes require an eight digit ratio with the digits representing 30 BAR CODES 1 module wide bar 1 module wide space 2 module wide bar 2 module wide space 3 module wide bar 3 module wide space 4 module wide bar 4 module wide space For example the command sequence M05 BYS123643 G will generate the following bar code using the default ratio 1 123643 3 EAN 13 The European Article Numbering system EAN is a superset of UPC and is the international standard bar code for retail food packages An EAN scanner can decode UPC but a UPC scanner typically cannot decode EAN Like UPC EAN is a fixed length continuous numeric symbology AnEAN 13 symbol consists of a left guard pattern six numeric digits a center guard pattern six numeric digits and a right guard pattern An EAN 13 symbol contains the same number of bars as UPC Version A but encodes a thirteenth digit into the parity pattern of the left six digits Two digits are used as flag digits to represent a country code and one digit is a modulo 10 check digit The programmer must specify exactly twelve digits The Imager will automatically generate the guard patterns and the check digit The EAN symbology uses multiple element widths to encode characters Each character has seven modules which may be either black or white to create two bars and two spaces of varying width EAN bar codes require an eight digit ratio with the digits representing 1 module wide b
27. aracter to validate that correct data has been decoded Ifthe check character can only assume numeric values 0 9 it is often called a check digit All bar codes require a quiet zone at each end to permit a scan to begin and end in a blank area The quiet zones should be at least 0 25 inches wide and be completely blank to allow accurate reading of the start stop codes and to prevent adjacent bar codes from overlapping The programmer is responsible for providing adequate quiet zones when printing bar codes The different bar code symbologies supported by the Imager are described below The description includes start and stop codes valid character set the data field check digits and any other information necessary for the creation of valid bar codes Code 39 Code 39 was the first alphanumeric symbology to be developed It is widely used having become the de facto standard for non retail bar codes It is a discrete self checking variable length symbology An asterisk is used for the start and stop code They will be included automatically by the Imager they should not be included in the data field by the programmer The Code 39 character set contains 43 characters 0 9 A Z and space All characters are constructed from five bars and four intervening spaces Of these nine elements three are wide and six are narrow A bar code may contain from 1 to 40 characters Code 39 may be printed with or without a check dig
28. command This command may be used to vertically slew a specified number of lines The command has one parameter which represents the number of line feeds to generate The actual distance slewed will depend upon the line spacing that is set in the printer typically 1 6 inch or 1 8 inch per line This command is identical to the filter mode W command The command format is AKnn where nn Number of line feeds to generate two digits from 01 to 99 52 REFERENCE SECTION AL command This command is used to set the height of a label If this command or the H command is not issued the assumed height ofthe label is 66 lines The command format is ALnn where nn Number of lines for the label two digits from 01 to 99 This command is identical in operation to the H command The two commands are interchangeable AM command This command is used to print image mode characters The command format is AMhhwwjjdc c where Ah Height of bar codes in 1 10 inches two digits from 00 to 99 ww See following font table id Justification from the current position Indicates how far down from the top of the pass the characters will begin printing jj 1 10 inches two digits from 00 to 99 d Dots 1 72 inches one digit from 0 to 9 c c Character or characters to be printed This command will activate image mode The parameters of this command are optional but will be processed if they exist If while processing the param
29. data will be ignored until the A command is received This command is not meaningful unless the PY Translation Mode parameter is set to Active This setting may be useful on systems where the host computer sends banner pages to the printer before the user application can send print information to the printer IMAGER SETUP Imager Zero Style Imager Zero Slashed Possible Values Slashed Normal This is not a valid item for the Imager image mode fonts It selects the type of zero character or O to be printed by the ImagerPlus only For printer fonts printed in pass thru mode or filter mode a similar parameter is available for each form in the FORMS MENU Line Registration LineRegistration Not Maintained Possible Values Not Maintained Maintained This item selects whether or not the form will automatically be advanced to the next line boundary when Filter Mode is exited Vertical DPI Resolution Vertical DPI 72 Possible Values 72 70 This item sets the vertical resolution to 72 or 70 Dots Per Inch Vertical Text Spacing Vertical Text SP Version 2 Possible Values Version 2 Version 1 This item selects whether text should be spaced vertically as in Code V version or version 2 Code V Space Fields Codev SP Fields Process Possible Values Process Ignore This item selects whether Code V space fields should be processed Imager Overview PASS THRU MODE In pass thru mode passive non translation pr
30. duct Code UPC has been used in the supermarket industry since 1973 It is a fixed length continuous numeric symbology There are three versions of the UPC symbol Version A which encodes 12 digits Version E which encodes six digits and Version D which encodes variable length data Version D is rarely used and is not supported by the Imager UPC Version E bar codes are special zero suppressed Universal Product Codes that compress 10 data characters down to six characters using specific rules A UPC Version E symbol consists of a left guard pattern six numeric digits and a right guard pattern For the UPCE 10 Digit bar code type Q the programmer must specify exactly 10 digits representing the manufacturer s code and product code The Imager will automatically compress these 10 digits to six digits generate the left and right guard patterns and implicitly encode the number system digit always a zero and the modulo 10 check digit in the bar code The UPC symbology uses multiple element widths to encode characters Each character has seven modules which may be either black or white to create two bars and two spaces of varying width UPC bar codes require an eight digit ratio with the digits representing 1 module wide bar 1 module wide space 2 module wide bar 2 module wide space 3 module wide bar 3 module wide space 4 module wide bar 4 module wide space For example the command sequence MOS BY 0123000006 G will genera
31. e For example code 39 requires the specification of four digits representing the width of narrow bars narrow spaces wide bars and wide spaces respectively For example the following Imager code APY activate filter mode AF absorb all carriage control L06 label height 6 lines 1 inch AMOS activate image mode amp height 0 5 inches ABY9A1234HELLO G define bar code code 39 w ratio 1 2 3 4 N terminate image mode and print N issue a label feed form feed O turn F command off PN return to pass thru mode Will print the following bar code UNI HELLO 23 BAR CODES SPECIAL AUTOPRINT OPTIONS The bar code command B usually uses a Y or N to indicate autoprinting of human readable text under a bar code Several additional options are available If a number from 1 to 6 is used instead of the Y then the high resolution font corresponding to the S font select command will be used For example the sequence M05 B1 A 12345G will print the following bar code using high resolution 10 cpi characters for autoprint VAL AL A ALA LA 1234 It is also possible to force the autoprint characters to print above or below the bar code The autoprint characters print below the bar code by default If the Y is preceded by an A the characters will print above the bar code For example the sequence M05 BAYA12345 G will print the following bar code 0000000000000
32. e image mode activation command M will activate image mode The printing of all Imager font characters and bar codes occurs in image mode Printing is done in passes A pass may be very simple printing only a single character or may be very complex printing a series of labels containing fixed and variable data IMAGER OVERVIEW Printing does not occur until the pass is completed by a pass terminator The pass terminator or forces printing to occur terminates image mode and returns to filter mode When the filter mode termination command PN is encountered while the Imager is in filter mode the active filter mode commands will finish processing and the Imager will then return to pass thru mode QMS MAGNUM AND IMAGER DIFFERENCES Several bar code symbologies are considered proprietary or are no longer in active use The Imager does not support those bar codes Several bar codes found in the QMS Magnum Code V which are not supported by the Imager include AGES Delta Distance A Matrix 2 of 5 MRC Edge Code Rapistan and Identicon 2 of 5 Bar codes which are supported include Code 39 Codabar MSI Interleaved 2 of 5 UPCA 11 digit UPCE 10 digit UPCEO 6 digit UPCE1 6 digit EAN 13 EAN 8 Code 128 UCC 128 and PostNet UCC 128 and PostNet are not a OMS Code V feature but they have been added to the Imager PERFORMANCE CONSIDERATIONS Text can be printed in pass thru mode filter mode or image mode Printing te
33. e repeat count is supplied as part ofthe variable data immediately following the buffer overlay termination command The C command used in conjunction with the B command has a two digit parameter It performs a code duplication service All code occurring after the C command and prior to the Z termination command is duplicated the number of times defined by the C parameter AD command This command may be used to vertically slew a specified number of dots 1 72 inches The command format is ADnn where nn Number of dots to slew two digits from 01 to 99 AF command This command will turn on free format mode causing all carriage control commands to be absorbed so that they will not be acted on by the printer The command format is AF AG command This command is the general purpose terminating command for certain other filter mode and image mode commands It has no parameters and has no meaning unless another command requires its use This terminator is normally used with commands that have a variable non fixed number of parameters The command format is AG AH command This command is used to set the height of a label If this command or the L command is not issued the assumed height ofthe label is 66 lines The command format is AHnn where nn Number of lines for the label two digits from 01 to 99 This command is identical in operation to the L command The two commands are interchangeable AK
34. e the standard bar code table Variable ratio bar codes may also be printed giving an almost infinite variety of bar code sizes Bar code commands must be contained within an image sequence The prefix M may be used to enter image mode to draw bar codes the universal height or width specification will affect the height of bar codes Bar codes are drawn at the current print position Horizontal tabbing and justification commands may be used to reach the desired print position STANDARD BAR CODES The B command is used for printing bar codes The height parameter of the preceding image command M or H will determine the bar code height The command format is ABatd d G where a Human readable autoprint indicator one character valid entries are Yes No or O CR t Bar code type one character see the Standard Bar Code Table d d Data to encode as a bar code a variable number of characters and or digits G Barcode sequence terminator For example the following Imager code 21 BAR CODES MAPY activate filter mode AF absorb all carriage control L06 label height 6 lines 1 inch AMOS activate image mode amp height 0 5 inches ABYAHELLO G define bar code code 39 w autoprint N terminate image mode and print A issue a label feed form feed O turn F command off PN return to pass thru mode Will print the following bar code MANA AL LA DNA HELLO STANDARD BAR
35. e character 1 e one that appears in the data stream for other reasons is set as the image control character unpredictable printing results will occur The default image control character may be changed via the printers control panel by changing the Control Char value in the Setup Options menu 14 BASIC COMMANDS PRINTING THE IMAGE CONTROL CHARACTER The image control character may be printed by selecting a new image control character printing the old control character and then changing back to the old control character The image command sequence N N will print as the single character PRINTING NORMAL CHARACTERS Normal characters using the resident printer fonts and printing at the normal character print speeds can be printed in pass thru mode and filter mode Printing text or anything else for that matter in pass thru mode does not use any of the capabilities of the Imager all printed images are handled by the printer s resident emulation All data is simply passed through the Imager to the printer Text which is printed in filter mode also uses the resident printer fonts and normal character print speeds but a new wrinkle is added because translation processing has been activated If free format is off the provided text will print as is For example APYA O First line of normal text Second line of normal text PN But if free format is on an explicit line terminator command must be added at t
36. ed if they exist If while processing the parameters an invalid parameter such as a non digit character is encountered that parameter plus any remaining unprocessed parameters are assumed to be zero This command is also used to print characters The fonts are Regular Image Mode Fonts 00 00 7Sci oo oi pi or 00 15cpi 58 REFERENCE SECTION AS command This command is used change the current font selection to one of the high resolution fonts The command format is ASn where n Font number one digit from 1 to 6 Font Description 10 cpi characters per inch 6 I0cpiOCcrRA____ AT command This command may be used to tab to a new horizontal print position within a sequence of image commands It is an absolute tab that sets the horizontal position for the next image the distance specified from the left edge of the printable area The command format is AThhhd where hhh Horizontal position in 1 10 inches three digits from 000 to 136 d Horizontal position in dots 1 60 inches one digit from 0 to 9 AX command This command will cause all subsequent characters to be ignored until a A command is received If a A command is never received then none of the incoming data will be processed or printed When ignore character is active all data will be absorbed or eaten Except for the A command no commands are recognized while ignoring characters The command format 1s AX
37. ely used and is not supported by the Imager A UPC Version A symbol consists of a left guard pattern six numeric digits a center guard pattern six more numeric digits and a right guard pattern The first digit is the UPC number system digit The next five digits are the UPC manufacturer s code The following five digits are the UPC product code The last digit is a modulo 10 check digit For the UPCA 11 Digit bar code type P the programmer must specify exactly 11 digits representing the number system manufacturer s code and product code The Imager will automatically generate the left center and right guard patterns as well as the modulo 10 check digit The UPC symbology uses multiple element widths to encode characters Each character has seven modules which may be either black or white to create two bars and two spaces of varying width UPC bar codes require an eight digit ratio with the digits representing 1 module wide bar 1 module wide space 2 module wide bar 2 module wide space 3 module wide bar 3 module wide space 4 module wide bar 4 module wide space For example the command sequence M05 BYP01234567890 G will generate the following bar code using the default ratio of 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 28 BAR CODES NT 12345 67890 5 The command sequence M08 BY9P2244668801234567890 G will generate the following bar code using double the default ratio 12345 67598 5 UPCE 10 Digit The Universal Pro
38. eters an invalid parameter such as a non digit character is encountered that parameter plus any remaining unprocessed parameters are assumed to be zero The fonts are Regular Image Mode Fonts 00 00 7Scpi 2260 dre ae il add 007 se AN command This command is used to change the image control character to any other printable character If you change the image control character be sure that all subsequent image commands use the new control character If an inappropriate character i e one that appears in the data stream for other reasons is set as the image control character unpredictable printing results will occur The command format is ANc where c New image control character any printable character 53 REFERENCE SECTION O command This command will turn off free format mode if it has been activated by the F command If free format mode is not active this command will have no effect After this command has been encountered all carriage control characters will be processed by the printer The command format is O PN command This command is used to terminate filter mode and return to pass thru mode The command format is PN R command This command is used to define an image repeat loop to print multiple copies of an image vertically down the page Commands and other data which come after this command and occur prior to its terminator will be printed multiple times The comma
39. have to be interspersed with the data at print time by the user If the labels do not need to be filled out with variable data then the buffered overlay method would probably not be necessary This would include labels which may only be printed one time or labels which have incrementing or decrementing serial numbers and which utilize the Imager repeat loop command BUFFERED OVERLAY OVERVIEW Label printing almost always starts with the PY command This command informs the Imager to make the filter mode and image mode commands available for use The second command will normally be a F command This tells the Imager to eat any carriage control character which it may encounter This command is especially useful with systems which automatically generate carriage control commands with each line sent to the printer With this command the label designer has direct control over the movement of the label or paper in the printer If the F command is used then the only way carriage returns line feeds and form feeds will occur is if the designer programs them in with the and printer control commands A typical buffered overlay label would have the following generalized format PY turn image processing ON F turn free format processing ON B start buffer overlay definition text and graphics label definitions gt end of buffer overlay definition variable data fields to fill out the label AG end of the variable da
40. he command sequence M01 BN212345G will encode a five digit ZIP Code in the following bar code YOU TT DA dos do dol The command sequence M01 BN2123456789G will encode a nine digit ZIP 4 Code in the following bar code bella dodo darle del The command sequence M01 BN212345678912G will encode an 11 digit ABC in the following bar code lssllsls lisi labelu li ludi dos blica dodo lila lb b EJ Because POSTNET does not use variable width bars and the absolute size of the bars is precisely specified by the U S Postal Service variable ratio POSTNET bar codes should not be specified 34 Modification and Positioning Commands HALF DOTS Half dot shading is created by printing an additional dot at each half dot position thereby doubling the number of dots printed horizontally and or vertically This provides high resolution printing and the increase in density results in a darker image The primary use of high resolution is for enhancing the quality of printed bar codes it will provide the best quality bar codes possible with the printer The downside is that it forces the printer to print more slowly increases print head wear and depletes ribbon ink faster Therefore use high resolution only when it is necessary to achieve the highest quality printer output The KF command is used to activate and deactivate toggle horizontal high resolution printing The command format is AKF Note All bar codes are printed us
41. he end of each line of text For example PY F First line of normal text Second line of normal text APN Normal characters using the resident printer fonts cannot be printed in image mode Any characters printed in image mode will be generated by the Imager and printed in a raster graphics mode 15 Characters The image command M may also be used for printing characters The characters may be generated in four different pitch sizes 7 5 cpi 10 cpi 12 cpi and 15 cpi The 7 5 cpi characters are 0 2 inch high all of the other characters are 0 1 inch high Before using M to print characters a PY command must be used to activate filter mode A command may print any number of characters within the constraint that the characters must fit horizontally on the paper Data which extends beyond the paper will be lost A pass terminator must be encountered before printing will actually occur 7 5 Pitch The following command may be used to print characters at 7 5 cpi The characters will be 0 2 inch high The vertical positioning justification is specified followed by the characters to be printed The command is AM0000jjde c where jjd Justification from the current position Indicates how far down from the top of the pass the characters will begin printing jj 1 10 inches two digits from 00 to 99 e g 10 1 0 inch d Dots 1 72 inches one digit from 0 to 9 e g 7 7 72 inch c c Charac
42. hree digits from 000 to 136 d Horizontal reference position in dots 1 60 inches one digit from 0 to 9 54 REFERENCE SECTION AW command This command may be used to vertically slew a specified number of lines The command has one parameter which represents the number of line feeds to generate The actual distance slewed will depend upon the line spacing that is set in the printer typically 1 6 inch or 1 8 inch per line This command is identical to the filter mode K command The command format is AWnn where nn Number of line feeds to generate two digits from 01 to 99 AX command This command will cause all subsequent characters to be ignored until a A command is received If a A command is never received then none of the incoming data will be processed or printed When ignore character is active all data will be absorbed or eaten Except for the A command no commands are recognized while ignoring characters The command format is AX AY command This command is used to automatically increment or decrement numeric fields These numeric fields may be text bar code data or other command parameters Use of this command is most powerful when used inside of a repeating sequence which is controlled by the R repeat command or the B buffered overlay command The command format is AYnnns i G where nan Numeric data to be modified S Sign increment decrement iii Increment decrement
43. ing horizontal high resolution printing This is necessary to guarantee readable bar codes of the best possible quality and will be done whether or not any KF commands are issued The KV command is used to activate and deactivate toggle vertical high resolution printing The command format is AKV Note Bar codes are printed without using vertical high resolution printing unless the KV command is used Vertical high resolution printing may make bar codes less readable because the additional dots will force the bars out of spec Half dot shading may be toggled as many times as necessary within the pass Half dot shading will be turned off by the pass terminator at the end of the pass Half dot shading may be applied to characters the reverse image background of characters boxes lines and bar codes Half dot shading may be combined with character half tones to create even more shading options for characters MODIFYING HEIGHT The H command may be used to change the universal height value within a sequence of image commands When this command is encountered the universal height may have already been set with a M command This command is available to change that value for a bar code The command format is AHnn where nn New universal height in 1 10 inches two digits from 00 to 99 e g 10 1 0 inch Height may be changed as many times as necessary within the pass Height is always measured along the vertical axi
44. inting occurs The print operations may include text and or graphics printing which is native to the FormsMaster 8000 8003 Reports listings spread sheets and graphics software packages would be typical applications that would be used with pass thru mode printing In pass thru mode all printer action will occur as though there is no Imager board resident in the printer The Imager simply allows all incoming data to be passed on to the printer without changing anything in the print data stream FILTER MODE In filter mode the Imager intercepts information and performs operations on the incoming data before printing occurs Filter mode is activated by the occurrence of the filter mode activation command PY Filter mode is deactivated by the occurrence of the filter mode deactivation command PN When filter mode is deactivated the printer returns to pass thru mode Primarily filter mode commands are used to manipulate the incoming data streams before they are printed Filter mode commands do not actually perform graphics functions those functions are handled by image mode commands IMAGE MODE Image mode commands are used to define graphic images such as bar codes or Imager font text characters The M command is an image prefix which will activate image mode There are three commands and which will terminate image mode and return to filter mode each one is a pass terminator An image sequence is initiated by the AM com
45. ired If a command accepts parameters there usually are no default values so the parameters must be specified When specifying parameters the exact number of characters including leading zeros must appear in the command sequence Spaces may not be embedded within a command sequence unless they are data to be printed TURNING THE IMAGER ON AND OFF In pass thru mode the Imager simply passes all data received on through to the printer This may be thought of as passive processing or you may think of the Imager as being turned off Placing the Imager in filter mode enables translation processing and may be thought of as turning it on Sending the command PY to the printer will activate filter mode Sending the command PN will deactivate filter mode and return to pass thru mode Some special rules should be followed when coding the PY command e The PY command must be the first printable characters preceding spaces do not count on a new line to be recognized e The PY command should be terminated by a filter mode carriage return hat dash e The PY sequence should be terminated by an ASCII control character i e carriage return or line feed If a carriage return and or line feed occurs within four character positions following the PY command they will be absorbed by the Imager and no paper motion will occur Otherwise the carriage return and or the line feed characters will be passed on to the printer f
46. it Code 39 type C see the Standard Bar Code Table includes a modulo 43 check digit which is automatically generated by the Imager Code 39 bar codes require a four digit ratio with the digits representing narrow bar narrow space wide bar wide space For example the command sequence MOS BY A12345G will generate the following bar code using the default ratio of 1 1 3 3 CT The command sequence M08BY9A226612345 G will generate the following bar code using double the default ratio 12246 The command sequence M05 BYC12345 G will generate the following bar code containing an automatically generated modulo 43 check digit 25 BAR CODES AAA INA AA AL UN Codabar Codabar is commonly used in libraries blood banks and air parcel express applications It is a discrete self checking variable length symbology Four start stop code characters A B C D are available in any combination as start stop codes The start and stop code characters must be included as part of the data field to be produced with the bar code The Codabar character set contains 16 characters the digits 0 9 and the characters All characters are constructed from four bars and three intervening spaces A bar code may contain from 1 to 40 characters Codabar bar codes require an eight digit ratio with the digits representing narrow bar narrow space wide bar wide space ignored intercharacter gap ignored ignored
47. ivation command then the Imager will begin INTRODUCTION analyzing all incoming data for other special commands If those two characters do not form the activation command then no other action is taken on the incoming data and the data is simply passed on to the printer for printing The Imager operates in three different modes or levels of processing pass thru mode filter mode and image mode Each mode represents a distinct level of operation where certain sequences of characters are interpreted as commands The action taken by the Imager when a command is encountered depends on which mode is active at the time Typically when a printer equipped with the Imager is powered on pass thru mode will be active When the appropriate command is received by the Imager while in pass thru mode it will activate filter mode With filter mode active other commands may be received which will either cause processing of data change to image mode or change back to pass thru mode Each mode provides a different level and type of processing activity Pass Thru Mode Filter Mode Image Mode Briefly when the PY command is received in pass thru mode then filter mode will be activated When the M command is received in filter mode then image mode will be activated These commands and many others are discussed in more detail later in this manual NOTATIONS AND CONVENTIONS All hexadecimal numbers use the suffix character h to disting
48. l If Translation On has been set the Imager will be initialized to filter mode on power up or printer reset In this case the PN command will not reset the Imager to pass thru mode that can only be accomplished by changing the Translation value through the printer s control panel Filter mode commands are divided in to two categories printer control commands and regular filter mode commands The printer control commands are simple single character commands which when encountered send a single non printable character to the printer The regular filter mode commands perform more elaborate operations on the incoming data FILTER MODE PRINTER CONTROL COMMANDS Printer control commands are used to send non printable single characters to the printer These include the escape character carriage return line feed form feed plus numerous other characters which the user may desire to send to the printer Printer control commands are normally used in conjunction with the regular filter mode commands The following example could be used to send a form feed to the printer MAPY activate filter mode AF absorb carriage control characters Ns generate a form feed hex 0C O turn the F command OFF PN return to pass thru mode 49 REFERENCE SECTION FILTER MODE PRINTER CONTROL COMMANDS LIST generates hex O E generates hex 02 generates hex 033 o generateshex 04 generates hex 0A line feed
49. le the default ratio a 123456753 Interleaved 2 of 5 Interleaved 2 of 5 is a high density continuous self checking variable length numeric symbology It is used primarily in the distribution industry The start code consists of two narrow bars and two narrow spaces The stop code consists of one wide bar a narrow space and a narrow bar They will be included automatically by the Imager The Interleaved 2 of 5 character set contains the ten digits 0 9 Each Interleaved 2 of 5 character actually encodes two digits one in the bars and one in the spaces There are five bars two of which are wide and three of which are narrow Likewise there are five spaces two of which are wide and three of which are narrow All of the odd positioned digits are encoded in the bars and all of the even positioned digits are encoded in the spaces The interleaving process requires an even number of digits If an odd number of digits is specified a leading zero is automatically inserted by the Imager A bar code may contain from to 40 digits Interleaved 2 of 5 bar codes require a four digit ratio with the digits representing narrow bar narrow space wide bar wide space For example the command sequence M05 BYK123456 G will generate the following bar code using the default ratio of 1 1 3 3 123456 The command sequence M08 BY9K2266123456 G will generate the following bar code using double the default ratio 123456 A partial scan
50. llow the T to be effective This is illustrated by the following two lines of code 36 MODIFICATION AND POSITIONING COMMANDS M0101000 S 1 T0100Standard Font M0101000 T01004S 1 High Resolution Font Horizontal tabs are usually specified relative to the left edge of the printable area but this can be changed by the T command in filter mode Do not confuse the T command in image mode which has been described here with the T command in filter mode Modifying Reference Position in Filter Mode In filter mode the T command is a universal horizontal tab command It is used to set a tab value which is added to all subsequent horizontal tab values used in image mode The effect is to change the reference position for horizontal tabs in image mode so they are no longer specified relative to the left edge of the printable area This allows the horizontal placement of printed information to be adjusted without having to change all the individual image mode tab commands The reference position will change for all objects created in image mode whether or not they have been positioned by a horizontal tab in image mode The command format is AThhhd where Ahh Horizontal reference position in 1 10 inches three digits from 000 to 136 e g 050 5 0 inches d Horizontal reference position in dots 1 60 inches one digit from 0 to 9 e g 7 7 60 inch For example the command sequence T0100 M0000000
51. mand that activates image mode the sequence includes all of the image commands that are processed before returning to filter mode All of the graphic images defined by the image sequence constitute the image pass the pass will be printed upon receipt of the pass terminator or PROCESSING CHARACTERISTICS The default image control character is the caret character Although this character may be changed to a different character by the user throughout this document the control character will be referenced as the caret character The only valid command which is recognized in pass thru mode is the filter mode activation command PY Until this command is encountered the Imager will pass all incoming data to the printer There is no assumption on the part of the Imager as to the type of data being sent to the printer It may be either text or graphics data After the filter mode activation command is encountered the Imager will examine all incoming data for other filter mode commands If filter mode commands are encountered the commands will be operated on as defined by the commands syntax Ifa carriage return and or a line feed character occurs within four character positions following the filter mode activation command they will be absorbed by the Imager Otherwise the carriage return and or the line feed characters will be passed on to the printer for the printer to process Once filter mode is active th
52. mmand but one is accomplished in image mode and the other is accomplished in filter mode There really are two separate commands which both just happen to use the T command mnemonic Be careful to avoid confusing these two different commands Tabbing in Image Mode In image mode the T command may be used to tab to a new horizontal print position within a sequence of image commands It is an absolute tab that sets the horizontal position for the next image the distance specified from the left edge of the printable area When an image is defined within an image sequence the print position for the next image in the sequence begins at the right hand edge of the preceding image The T command should be used to position the cursor to the correct horizontal position for the next image The command format is AThhhd where hhh Horizontal position in 1 10 inches three digits from 000 to 136 e g 050 5 0 inches d Horizontal position in dots 1 60 inches one digit from 0 to 9 e g 7 7 60 inch For example the command sequence M0000000ZERO TO400FOUR will print the text string ZERO at the left edge of the printable area and the text string FOUR four inches from the left Horizontal tabs may be used to correctly position each image in the pass ZERO FOUR The T horizontal tab command will also reset the font selection to a non high resolution font When using the S command with the T command the S must fo
53. mmand sequence M05 BYU4015347G will generate the following bar code using the default ratio 40153476 Code 128 A B C Code 128 is a very high density continuous self checking variable length alphanumeric symbology The Code 128 symbology is capable of encoding the full 128 character ASCII character set four function code characters FNC1 FNC2 FNC3 FNC4 four code set selection characters Code A Code B Code C Shift three start characters Start A Start B Start C one stop character These characters are encoded using three alternate character sets A B and C Each set includes start codes and shift codes to control which set is to be used A given bar space pattern can have three different meanings depending upon which character set is selected The Imager will automatically optimize the way a bar code is printed selecting the appropriate character set s to minimize the length of the bar code and inserting the necessary start code shift codes and stop code The Imager will also automatically insert a modulo 103 check digit Character set C contains the 100 two digit pairs 00 to 99 When printing numeric data the use of character set C effectively doubles the density of the bar code The Imager shifts to character set C when four or more contiguous numeric digits are encountered A bar code may contain from 1 to 40 characters The data can include any printable ASCII characters The Imager does not
54. nd will cause continuous printing until the repeat count has been satisfied Repeat commands may be nested That is a repeat command may contain other repeat commands The maximum depth for the repeats is 10 levels The repeat terminator is the Z terminator command If repeat commands are nested one Z command will terminate all repeats The command format is Rannn where nnnn Repeat count four digits from 0001 to 9999 S command This command is used to spread label images across a page Itis used to make identical copies of label images from a single label image This command may have two parameters or it may have no parameters If it is used without parameters then it deactivates the current spread function The command format is ASnnww where nn Number of times to replicate the label ww Width of the label to copy in 1 10 inches AT command In filter mode the T command is a universal horizontal tab command It is used to set a tab value which is added to all subseguent horizontal tab values used in Image mode The effect 1s to change the reference position for horizontal tabs in image mode so they are no longer specified relative to the left edge of the printable area It allows the horizontal placement of printed information to be adjusted without having to change all other individual image mode tab commands The command format is AThhhd where Ahh Horizontal reference position in 1 10 inches t
55. ng the Image Control Character oooonnnccccnnoncccnnnocccccononcncnnnoncncnnnnnncnn nn 15 PrintingNormal Charasters 22 2242800 an ides 15 Character S PRERREREREERERERRERERRERERERREREEREREREERERERRERERREREREREEREEREREEEEREREEREREEREREREREEREERERERRRRR 17 TESE EE tetas lets ah ares cate Her N a oot Matin nn eld a temas tree a 17 IKOH LE state cn tect eet oe babies Abel ces Bet eagle ale Er an dat ay eel tnd al at oes 17 IPA AE AEE AA AA E E EE E AE TAS 18 PO AEA A A EE A E E T E ET 18 High Resolution Characters eerie aeara E AEAEE A TE A 18 Lower Case D SCONO S i etn ee eed en ae ae eee 19 Bar Codes 155555551150 21 olandard Bar Codes ccc EE E id 21 Standard Bar Code Table 42444444000nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnennnnnnnennnnnnannnnnnnennennnnnannnnnnnennnnnsnennnnnn nn 22 Variable Ratio Bar Codes oooooonnnn no ro nn 23 Special Autoprint Options ooooooosooono no 24 Bar Code SVMbOlOGieS aii aiii 24 Code SOF ce eet ea ag tek ae gia eee tae eae at eee eae ene ee aerate a ee ei 25 COD AD A ara ee ek ak ts ee NR ea ee Tee ee A 26 Ml ee ee ee er reer OE reer cee ee ee ee ee nr ea ere rrr 26 A I A nn ce 27 URSATTDIG Sr a E rere errr rere reer Er ee ar cree repre recente 28 UPCE TO Digitaa ea ds 29 UPRCEO O BI o taa ds 29 UPEET 6 Didi ES 30 EAN TO geek ee Del en ee a N a De ea canoa as 31 EAN Se ee ere NA E era cree rarer sr ee 32 Code 128 AlBI Ch cca es skr a a o 32 A s O ota 33 POSUN GE
56. ode F eat all carriage control A BUFFER OVERLAY text to print one time B start buffer overlay FIRST NAME 15 BYTES constant text A 015 variable field 1 De CR and LF LAST NAME 20 BYTES constant text A 020 variable field 2 A ABA CR and 2 LFs A buffer overlay terminator JOE variable data field 1 BLOW variable data field 2 FRED variable data field 1 SMITH variable data field 2 LISA variable data field 1 JONES variable data field 2 AG terminate variable data O turn F command OFF PN return to pass thru mode It will produce the following result A BUFFER OVERLAY FIRST NAME 15 BYTES JOE LAST NAME 20 BYTES BLOW FIRST NAME BYTES FRED LAST NAME 20 BYTES SMITH El H ol FIRST NAME 15 BYTES LISA LAST NAME 20 BYTES JONES Normally the variable data fields must be the same size as what the variable field descriptor commands define However a or within the variable data will pad the rest of the field with spaces With the or the rest of the fields in the buffer will also be padded with spaces When a G is encountered in the variable data the buffered overlay processing is terminated There are two optional commands which can be used in conjunction with the buffered overlay command sequence and which provide additional data manipulation capabilities The R
57. odule wide space 3 module wide bar 3 module wide space 4 module wide bar e4 module wide space For example the command sequence M05 BYR123643G will generate the following bar code using the default ratio D 123643 Z UPCE1 6 Digit The Universal Product Code UPC has been used in the supermarket industry since 1973 It is a fixed length continuous numeric symbology There are three versions of the UPC symbol Version A which encodes 12 digits Version E which encodes six digits and Version D which encodes variable length data Version D is rarely used and is not supported by the Imager UPC Version E bar codes are special zero suppressed Universal Product Codes that compress 10 data characters down to six characters using specific rules A UPC Version E symbol consists of a left guard pattern six numeric digits and a right guard pattern For the UPCE1 6 Digit bar code type S the programmer must specify exactly six digits These digits represent the manufacturer s code and product code but have already been compressed from 10 digits to six digits The Imager will automatically generate the left and right guard patterns and implicitly encode the number system digit always a one and the modulo 10 check digit in the bar code The UPC symbology uses multiple element widths to encode characters Each character has seven modules which may be either black or white to create two bars and two spaces of varying width UPC b
58. or the printer to process Filter mode may also be activated by specifying Translation On in the Setup Options menu on the printer s control panel If Translation On has been set the Imager will be initialized to filter mode at power up or printer reset In this case the PN command will not reset the Imager to pass thru mode that can only be accomplished by changing the Translation value through the printer s control panel FREE FORMAT Free format disables the processing of control codes ASCII codes 00h to 1Fh All carriage control commands such as carriage return line feed and form feed will be absorbed so they will not be acted upon by the printer Some operating systems and application software may automatically generate certain control codes in the data stream Unexpected control codes could prematurely terminate the pass cause undesired paper motion etc Free format will avoid these problems 13 BASIC COMMANDS Free format also allows the programmer to separate image commands with line breaks to greatly increase readability With free format on image commands on consecutive lines within a file are treated as a single command line A pass terminator ends the command line Since free format causes all control characters to be ignored the programmer must explicitly provide for forms control line feed form feed etc with the appropriate image commands Free format is enabled by the F command and disabled by
59. pecified relative to the nominal width of the narrow elements both bars and spaces For example a bar code with ratio 1 1 3 3 narrow bar narrow space wide bar wide space has wide elements that are three times the width of the narrow elements Some bar code symbologies are designed to encode data of a fixed length Others should be used only in a fixed length environment because of data security reasons a partial scan may appear to be valid Some symbologies can safely encode variable length data Bar code symbologies differ in the amount of data that can be encoded in a given distance When comparing the relative densities of different symbologies it is customary to compare codes printed with the same nominal width narrow elements 24 BAR CODES A symbology is considered to be self checking if a single printing defect will not cause a character to be transposed into another valid character in the same symbology A start code is a particular pattern of bars and spaces placed at the beginning of a bar code to indicate to the scanner where the symbol begins A stop code is a pattern placed at the end of a bar code to indicate where the symbol ends The start and stop codes may also indicate the direction ofthe scan A check character may be placed in a predetermined position in a bar code symbol The value of the check character is mathematically calculated from the other characters encoded in the symbol The scanner uses the check ch
60. r But conceptually the Imager is a filter inserted in the pipeline between the host computer interfaces and the printer Serial Interface FormsMaster Processor Parallel Interface Imager Coprocessor Optional Interface As a filter the Imager will simply pass all data received on through to the printer until it receives special image commands telling it to do otherwise The image commands will be filtered out processed and when necessary replaced with native printer commands ASCI control codes and escape sequences in particular graphics escape sequences A cornerstone to the operation of the Imager is the use of the image control character This special character signals the Imager when an image command may have been encountered in the incoming data In the event that the user cannot use the default image control character the control character may be changed to a different character This may be done through the printer s control panel or by sending the Imager a special command to change the control character The Imager is passive to data which it receives from the host device until the image control character is encountered That is it simply sends all data it receives to the printer logic for printing until it receives a control character If a control character is encountered in the incoming data the Imager examines the two characters following the control character If those two characters form the act
61. r Set QMS Char Set USA Possible Values USA France United Kingdom Italy sweden Finland Spain Norway Denmark PC Subset Japan Codev Versionl Germany This item selects the character set as described APY Translation Mode APY Translation Not Active Possible Values Not Active Active This item selects whether or not PY Filter Mode translation processing is active at power on or reset If this parameter is set to Active the Imager will power up in filter mode If filter mode is made active this way it cannot be disabled by issuing the PN filter mode termination command AF Free Format Mode AF Free Format Not Active Possible Values Not Active Active This item selects whether or not the F Free Format Mode is active in Filter Mode at power up The value of this parameter does not become meaningful unless the PY Translation parameter discussed above is set to Active or unless a PY command is received in the data stream Once this command becomes active all carriage control characters carriage return line feed and form feed characters are ignored by the Imager This setting will remain active until the filter mode command O is encountered in the incoming data stream or until the PN filter mode termination command is encountered AX Ignore Data Mode AX Ignore Data Not Active Possible Values Not Active Active This item selects whether the X ignore character mode is active When Active all incoming
62. r is displaved as shown below The remainder of this section described the different items which may be set for the Imager and the possible values for each INTERFACE MENU Imager Emulation Emulation OMS Codev v2 Possible Values QMS CodeV v2 PTX Codev v2 This item sets the Imager emulation mode QMS Codev v2 selects QMS Code V version 2 PTX Codev v2 selects the Printronix version of QMS CodeV version 2 Control Character ControlCharacter A 5E Hex Possible Values A 5E Hex SOH 01 Hex through HT 09 Hex so 0E Hex through FF Hex This item sets the control character used to begin commands The character normally used for QMS is the caret LF Possible Values LF CR This item specifies a carriage return or line feed as the line terminator This allows the user to dictate which character a carriage return or a line feed will be the last character on a line The user should check the host device computer attached to the printer to determine what this setting should be IMAGER SETUP Bar Code Density Bar Code pansi ty H1gn Res Possible Values Low Res Medium Res High Res Graphics Med Res This item sets the density or graphics resolution for bar codes Typically the higher the resolution the higher the quality of the bar code However for printing large bar codes that will be read from a distance lower resolution will still provide good readability and provide faster throughput OMS Characte
63. rlay termination command is found All data between the B and the will be saved and processed as a label Other filter mode and image mode commands may be in this buffer overlay sequence The data which fills out the label image is supplied immediately following the command The command has no parameters and has the following format AB Normally the variable data fields must be the same size as what the variable field descriptor commands define However a or within the variable data will pad the rest of the field with spaces With the or the rest of the fields in the buffer will also be padded with spaces When a G is encountered in the variable data the buffered overlay processing is terminated There are two optional commands which can be used in conjunction with the buffered overlay command sequence and which provide additional data manipulation capabilities The R define variable repeat loop command not to be confused with the regular filter mode define repeat loop command and the C block copy command These two special buffer overlay commands are mutually exclusive That is they cannot be used within the same buffer overlay label 51 REFERENCE SECTION The R command used in conjunction with the B command unlike the regular filter mode define repeat loop command has no associated parameters It performs a similar function of repeating a command sequence but th
64. s 1 10 inches horizontal and 1 6 or 1 8 inches vertical plus any other issues which are required to satisfy the printing requirements Before coding of a label begins one of two different implementation methods should be decided upon The Imager has two different methods for processing a label image e Buffered Overlay e In line Coding When the buffered overlay method is used the Imager will save the commands for printing a label image and store them Then the user can simply send the data down to fill in the labels with variable data The in line coding method involves the repetitive transmission of commands to the Imager to print label images Many previously designed labels use the in line coding method The primary reason for this was the limited memory space available on the older printer controllers only small labels could use the buffered overlay method Today however lack of memory space is not as big a problem as it once was It is recommended that when designing and coding a label the buffered overlay method be used whenever possible There are two main reasons for this recommendation First the 10 IMAGER OVERVIEW volume of data characters transmitted to the printer is considerably less when the buffer overlay method is used The label image only has to be sent one time Thereafter only data to fill it out is necessary Second the code is easier to maintain because the label commands are generated at one time and do not
65. s of the paper regardless of the orientation of the images being printed Note that only height is affected by this command Width remains unchanged 35 MODIFICATION AND POSITIONING COMMANDS MODIFYING JUSTIFICATION VERTICAL POSITIONING The J command may be used to change the justification vertical positioning value within a sequence of image commands It moves the vertical position for the next image down the distance specified from the top of the pass When this command is encountered the justification may have already been set with a M command This command is available to change that value The command format is AJijd where jjd Justification from the current position Indicates how far down from the top of the pass the next image will begin printing jj 1 10 inches two digits from 00 to 99 e g 10 1 0 inch d Dots 1 72 inches one digit from 0 to 9 e g 7 7 72 inch Justification may be changed as many times as necessary within the pass Justification is always measured along the vertical axis of the paper relative to the top of the pass regardless of the orientation of the images being printed HORIZONTAL TAB Horizontal tabbing allows the programmer to set the horizontal print position for the next image to be defined It is also possible to change the reference position for horizontal tabs from the left printable edge to some other horizontal position Both of these functions are accomplished with a T co
66. st D will set descenders on A second D will set descenders off as will a pass terminator The state of descenders may be toggled as many times as necessary within the pass Setting descenders on within an image pass will produce an under character gap that would not otherwise be present This is true even ifno lower case characters with descenders are printed This command is valid for image mode graphics fonts which include the expandable characters It does not include the high resolution fonts which are activated with the image mode S command The high resolution fonts always print the descender characters below the font base line 19 Bar Codes The Imager is capable of printing many types of bar codes Human readable text can be automatically printed beneath bar codes The Imager automatically calculates and includes check digits in all bar codes that require them The check digits are calculated from the supplied bar code data and included somewhere in the bar code along with the data Check digits are used by bar code readers to insure that a bar code has been read correctly or to detect the input error The programmer can specify the height of the bar codes The actual width of a bar code will depend upon the bar code type and density the data encoded and the ratio ofthe bars and spaces in the bar code The Imager is pre programmed with numerous bar code types all capable of printing at the most popular ratios se
67. t to 5 InnerLoop text to print 15 times NZ repeat terminator O turn F command OFF PN return to pass thru mode Will generate the following print Outer Outer Outer LoopInner LoopInner LoopInner LoopInner LoopInner LoopInner LoopInner LoopInner LoopInner LoopInner LoopInner LoopInner LoopInner LoopInner LoopInner Loop Loop Loop 41 REPETITIVE PRINTING AUTO INCREMENT DECREMENT The Y command is used to automatically increment or decrement numeric fields These numeric fields may be text bar code data or other command parameters Use of this command is most powerful when used inside of a repeating sequence which is controlled by the R repeat command or the B buffered overlay command The command format is Ynnnsiii G where nnn Numeric data to be modified S Sign increment decrement iii Increment decrement value AG Command terminator The following example will print five Code 39 bar codes The first bar code will have the value 1234 and each successive bar code value will be incremented by 1 The last bar code will have a value of 1238 The result is shown below 42 PY activate filter mode F absorb all carriage control R0005 set repeat loop for 5 times M activate image mode 05 set height to 0 5 inches BYA define a bar code Y1234 1 G define an increment field G terminate the bar code N terminate image mode
68. ta O turn free format processing OFF PN turn image processing OFF The text and graphics label definitions shown in the example may be made up of filter mode commands or printable text or image mode commands The variable data fields are simply a list of data which will be mapped into predefined locations in the label image when it prints More information concerning the buffered overlay command is available in Filter Mode Commands in the Reference Section As shown in the example it is good practice to turn OFF functions which have been turned ON in the process of printing labels This will leave the printer in a known state when a job completes and the printer will be ready for the next print job Failure to deactivate certain functions after they have been activated can cause mysterious problems for the next job or user of the printer 11 Basic Commands The Imager command set allows it to be fully controlled and utilized using only printable ASCH characters Image commands may be generated by a specially designed program written in whatever programming language is convenient Or image commands may simply be placed in a file created with a standard text editor or word processor When generating image commands it will be helpful to keep the following points in mind Image commands are case sensitive There is a difference between upper case and lower case letters in image commands In most commands upper case letters are requ
69. te the following bar code using the default ratio LJ a 123643 UPCEO 6 Digit The Universal Product Code UPC has been used in the supermarket industry since 1973 It is a fixed length continuous numeric symbology There are three versions of the UPC symbol Version A which encodes 12 digits 29 BAR CODES Version E which encodes six digits and Version D which encodes variable length data Version D is rarely used and is not supported by the Imager UPC Version E bar codes are special zero suppressed Universal Product Codes that compress 10 data characters down to six characters using specific rules A UPC Version E symbol consists of a left guard pattern six numeric digits and a right guard pattern For the UPCEO 6 Digit bar code type R the programmer must specify exactly six digits These digits represent the manufacturer s code and product code but have already been compressed from 10 digits to six digits The Imager will automatically generate the left and right guard patterns and implicitly encode the number system digit always a zero and the modulo 10 check digit in the bar code The UPC symbology uses multiple element widths to encode characters Each character has seven modules which may be either black or white to create two bars and two spaces of varying width UPC bar codes require an eight digit ratio with the digits representing 1 module wide bar 1 module wide space 2 module wide bar 2 m
70. ted 39 Repetitive Printing The Imager is capable of printing multiple copies of an image The data for the image needs to be supplied only once Vertical repetition may be used to print from 1 to 9999 copies of the image down the page Horizontal repetition may be used to print copies of the image across the page Each copy of the image will be identical except that numeric fields may be incremented or decremented when repeating an image vertically VERTICAL REPETITION The R command is used to define an image repeat loop to print multiple copies of an image vertically down the page Commands and other data which come after this command and occur prior to its terminator will be printed multiple times The command will cause continuous printing until the repeat count has been satisfied Repeat commands may be nested That is a repeat command may contain other repeat commands The maximum depth for the repeats is 10 levels The repeat terminator is the Z terminator command If repeat commands are nested one Z command will terminate all repeats Incrementing numbers on an inside and outside loop increment at the same rate The command format is ARnnnn where nnnn Repeat count four digits from 0001 to 9999 For example the following repeat loops APY activate filter mode AF eat all carriage control AR0003 set outside repeat count to 3 AZAR CR and LF OuterLoop text to print 3 times AR0005 set inside repeat coun
71. ter or characters to be printed For example M0000000ABCDEFGHIJKL MNOPORSTUVWXYZ0123456789 will print the text string ABCDEFGHIJKL MNOPORSTUVWXY Z0123456789 using a character pitch of 7 5 cpi ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPORS TUVHX 20123456789 10 Pitch The following command may be used to print characters at 10 cpi The characters will be 0 1 inch high The vertical positioning justification is specified followed by the characters to be printed The command format is M0101 jjde c normal left to right where jjd Justification from the current position Indicates how far down from the top of the pass the characters will begin printing ii 1 10 inches two digits from 00 to 99 e g 10 1 0 inch d Dots 1 72 inches one digit from 0 to 9 e g 7 7 72 inch c c Character or characters to be printed For example M0101000ABCDEFGHIJKL MNOPORSTUVW XY Z0123456789 will print the text string ABCDEFGHIJKL MNOPORSTUVW XY Z0123456789 using a character pitch of 10 cpi ABCDEFGHTIKLMNOP ORS TUVHRVY20 1 23456785 17 CHARACTERS 12 Pitch The following command may be used to print characters at 12 cpi The characters will be 0 1 inch high The vertical positioning justification is specified followed by the characters to be printed The command format is AMO001 jjde c normal left to right where jjd Justification from the current position Indicates how far down from the top of the pass the characters will
72. uish them from decimal numbers e g 5Eh is equivalent to 94 decimal All measurements required by the Imager in filter mode and image mode are specified in tenths of an inch and or dots The Imager board creates images based upon 60 dots per inch horizontally and 72 dots per inch vertically All references to tenth inches horizontally are true tenth inches 6 60 of inches All references to tenth inches vertically are in reality 7 72 of inches The Imager command set allows it to be fully controlled and utilized using only printable ASCII characters ASCII control codes are not part of the Imager command repertoire Imager commands are introduced by the image control character which is by default the printable ASCII caret character 94 decimal 5E hex Some people may refer to the caret character as the hat character Note in particular that the ESC control code 27 decimal 1B hex is not a part of the Imager command set When the caret character is seen in this manual it does not mean ESC and it does not mean control _ The use of image commands is illustrated throughout this manual In these illustrations commentary is provided at the far right as italicized text For example APY activate filter mode AF eat all carriage control APN return to pass thru mode These italicized comments are not part of the image commands and should not be appended to the image commands being described The comments are provided
73. value AG Command terminator AZ command This command is the filter mode repeat R and block copy C command terminator The command format is AL A command This command is the variable field descriptor command It is used to define a variable field for data to be merged into Use of this command without first issuing a B buffered overlay command would be meaningless The command format is A nnn where nnn Maximum length of the variable data field 55 REFERENCE SECTION IMAGE MODE INTRODUCTION Image mode processing is the graphics mode of operation for the Imager In order to activate image mode the M command must be used To exit image mode and return to filter mode one of the commands or is required if the F command was previously issued If the F command was not previously issued then a carriage return line feed or form feed will also cause an exit to filter mode IMAGE MODE COMMANDS LIST Begin acknowledging input characters again Used after the X command Define a horizontal bar code Toggle the lower case characters with descender on or off depending on the previous state G The general purpose command sequence terminator Used with commands which use a variable number of parameters such as bar code commands and auto increment commands A command This command will cause all subsequent characters to not be ignored thereby counteracting any X command that was issued
74. xt or anything else for that matter in pass thru mode does not use any of the capabilities of the Imager all printed images are handled by the printers resident emulation Since pass thru mode printing does not actually use the Imager capabilities only filter mode and image mode will be discussed Text which is printed in filter mode uses normal printer fonts The Imager fonts can only be used in image mode If the user has the option of printing in either filter mode or image mode and can use the fonts available in either mode then better performance will be achieved by printing in filter mode The main reason for this is that filter mode text is printed in a non graphics mode where image mode text is printed in a raster graphics mode In filter mode the printer can skip blank areas between lines of text In image mode the blank areas as well as the text are printed Generally speaking for this reason graphics images do not print as quickly as straight text alone LABEL DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS It is a good idea to know what a label is to look like before coding it for printing Sketching the label on graph paper or better yet a printer layout sheet before coding begins can eliminate a lot of time in the design process A ruler with 1 10 inch 1 6 inch and 1 8 inch markings will also be very handy Label stock selection criteria should include material makeup of the label which will work well with the printer label size based on standard unit
75. xt image down the distance specified from the top of the pass When this command is encountered the justification may have already been set with a M command This command is available to change that value The command format is Jjjd Justification from the current position Indicates how far down from the top of the pass the next image will begin printing jj 1 10 inches two digits from 00 to 99 d Dots 1 72 inches one digit from 0 to 9 where jjd AKF command This command 1s used to activate and deactivate toggle horizontal high resolution printing The command format is AKF AKV command This command is used to activate and deactivate toggle vertical high resolution printing The command format is AKV AM command This command is used to print bar codes It has the same format in image mode as it does in filter mode The universal height width and vertical positioning justification are specified followed by the characters to be printed The command format is AMhhwwjjde c where hh Height of bar code in 1 10 inches two digits from 00 to 99 ww See following font table jjd Justification from the current position Indicates how far down from the top of the pass the characters will begin printing jj 1 10 inches two digits from 00 to 99 d Dots 1 72 inches one digit from 0 to 9 c c Character or characters to be printed The parameters of this command are optional but will be process

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