Ryan:
We have the minimum of 4 because of the way we try to find Pharmacodes in an image. If we see less than 4 bars, we assume it is not a valid Pharmacode. I know the spec goes down to 2 bars, but in addition to making the code not very distinct on a page, we were worried about creating lots of misreads with such few bars. In instances where the code is isolated on a nice white background, we would have no trouble reading a short code, but in a real image with lots of background, text and other shapes, we could "invent" codes. Besides, we didn't think anyone would actually try to read these codes with so few bars. Is this an adequate explanation to go back to your customer with or are they pushing for you to read the short codes?
Bob