The Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb) is the term coined by the
United Stated Postal Service (USPS) for the new barcode symbology used
to track and sort letters and flat packages. It comprises a suite of
services including the Confirm® Service, which is referred to as OneCode
Confirm™, and the Address Change Service™, which is referred to as OneCode
ACS™. Intelligent Mail is also a term used in the description of the
24 digit tray label barcode.
The Intelligent Mail customer barcode combines the information
of both the POSTNET and PLANET symbologies, and additional information,
into a single barcode that is about the same size as the traditional
POSTNET symbol. Automation Discounts with the use of Intelligent Mail
customer barcodes have been supported since March 2007. Version 7.0 of the Postnet
& Intelligent Mail Barcode Fonts contains the special characters
required.
Currently, the use of the Intelligent Mail barcode is
optional. Since it offers significant advantages, however, it makes
good business sense to implement this new symbol today. IDAutomation
has implemented unique encoding in
IDAutomation's
Postnet Fonts, which allow printing of Postnet, Planet and Intelligent
Mail barcodes with the same font.
To create a proper Intelligent Mail Tracing, OneCode Confirm or OneCode ACS
Barcode with IDAutomation's products, a single string of numbers must
be obtained, which is referred to as the DataToEncode.
The DataToEncode is usually* made up of the following:
Type
Field
Digits
Example
Tracking Code
Barcode Identifier
2 (2nd digit must be 0-4)
01
Special Services
3
234
Customer Identifier
6 or 9
567094
Sequence Number
9 or 6 if 9 were used above
987654321
Routing Code
Delivery Point ZIP Code
0, 5, 9, or 11
01234567891
Complete string from data above: 0123456709498765432101234567891
The Barcode Identifier field is a 2-digit field reserved for
future use to encode the presort identification that is currently
printed in human-readable form on the optional endorsement line
(OEL). Initially, OneCodeCONFIRM
and OneCodeACS users should leave this field as "00". Later,
the USPS may require the proper coding of this field.
The Special Services field is a 3-digit field that identifies
the type of service. In the end, the field is intended to allow
a single 4CB to support multiple services in addition to or instead
of Confirm and ACS.
The Customer Identifier field is a 6-digit number identifying
the mailer. At the initial launching of 4CB, Destination Confirm
appends a leading zero to the assigned 5-digit Subscriber ID to
form the Customer Identifier field.
The Sequence Number is a 9-digit field. For Destination Confirm,
this field holds the existing Mailing ID field, which is a 4- or
6-digit field. The Mailing ID field can be expanded to 9 digits
if so desired. Otherwise, leading zeros should be used to fill the
field completely. When using Origin Confirm, the Customer Identifier
field and the Sequence Number field may be combined into a 15-digit
field to hold the existing 9- or 11- digit Customer field plus additional
digits. If these fields are not expanded to 15 digits, leading zeros
should be used to fill the field completely.
The Routing ZIP Code field will accommodate 0, 5, 9 or 11 digit
ZIP Code information. Confirm requires a 9- or 11-digit Routing
ZIP to serve as "Subscriber ID" for Origin Confirm users. The routing
ZIP Code inserted into the 4CB must be registered in the Confirm
account.
* Always refer the the most recent specification from the USPS before
production.
Universal
Barcode Font Advantage™ - A single font that creates multiple
barcode types including Code 128, Code 39, Interleaved 2 of 5, Intelligent
Mail, OneCode, Postnet, Planet, MSI and Codabar.
Native
Access Barcode Generator - Add dynamic Intelligent Mail barcodes
to Access reports without installing additional fonts or DLLs.
ActiveX Barcode
Control & DLL - A COM component that generates Intelligent Mail
barcode images and WMF files. This is the easiest component to use
for Microsoft® Access reports and Visual Basic 6.
ASP.NET
Barcode Server Control - A collection of web controls, applications
and server controls that create Intelligent Mail barcodes on the
Internet from Windows Server.
Barcode Image
Generator - A Windows application used to paste or generate
Intelligent Mail barcode images one at a time or from the command
prompt.
Online
Dynamic Barcode Image Generator - Easily create streaming Intelligent
Mail barcodes online and in any application that can access a URL
in any operating system.
Windows
.NET Forms Controls - Generate and print Intelligent Mail barcode
images from Microsoft .NET and Visual Studio .NET.
Barcode Generation Examples:
When using IDAutomation
Intelligent Mail
Barcode Fonts, a
font encoder must
be used to generate the text string for the Intelligent Mail barcode
font because of the complex encoding algorithms used in this symbology.
This generated string will create a correct barcode when combined with
the IDAutomation
Postnet Font. The text below was generated from the example data
string of 0123456709498765432101234567891: qqrspprpsrqrsqqrqqsprsrrqqqrrsrssrqpqrqrrrsppprrsssqrpqqqrpsrqqrq
The size of the Intelligent Mail barcode must be between 22 and 24
bars per inch. Additional font widths are provided with
IDAutomation's
Postnet Fonts for fine-tuning and adjustment. IDAutomation recommends
verifying the printed symbols
of random selections of mail to ensure proper dimensions. When using
Barcode Components
or Barcode Applications,
the height and width may be adjusted as necessary as long as the properties
are within USPS Specification Tolerances, which are shown in Fig. 1
below.
Intelligent Mail and OneCode barcodes must be printed on specific
areas of mail, usually directly above the name and address. Additional
details pertaining to the placement of the symbol are available in the addenda
to Publication 8, Address Change Service, and Publication 197, Confirm®
Service User Guide, which may be obtained from the
USPS website.
Verifying Intelligent Mail
Barcodes
Printed symbols may be easily verified with the Print Quality Assessment
(PQA) tool found in the
IDAutomation
2D Barcode Scanner. The quality assurance test grades the symbol
and reports any possible problems and dimension errors. The report below
was generated when scanning the barcode symbol at the top of this document
with PQA enabled:
10,301,107081,000000000,33609106255 >> PQA <<
INTELLIGENT MAIL BARCODE(USPS): 65 Bars, nominally from 02.66 to 03.20 in. in
Width
Bar Sequence: THHHTDDHAADAHAAHDHDATHDAAATDTTTTAADHTAADTAATHATATTTTDDDAAHDATATAH
[C] (Lo) < "Tall" Bar Extensions: 0.062 in. from center
[B] (Lo) < "Short" Bar Extensions: 0.021 in. from center
[B] (Lo) < Bar Widths = 0.015 in.
[A] (Ok) < Inter-Bar Gaps = 0.030 in.
Symbology Overview
