Barcodes in Practice - 2D Barcodes

Barcodes in Practice - 2D Barcodes

There are more than 50 different barcode types or symbologies to choose from, the majority of which are so-called 1D barcodes but also - more recently - 2D barcodes, Postal barcodes and OMR barcodes.
The JetMobile BarDIMM Pro encodes the necessary information as bars, prints your barcode, complete with error detection and checksum. BarDIMM Pro supports 2D Barcode standards described below:

2D Barcodes 2D means two dimensional. 2D barcodes contain more information than conventional 1D barcodes. Conventional barcodes get wider as more data is encoded. 2D barcodes make use of the vertical dimension to pack in more data. However, 1D and 2D barcode technologies will co-exist. 2D barcodes will be used where 1D barcodes cannot hold the necessary amount of data. 2D barcodes are quite new. You will need to use special barcode generation software, the JetMobile BarDIMM Pro 3.2.

Aztec

Aztec Code is a 2D matrix barcode symbology developed by Welch Allyn designed to combine the best characteristics of several 1st  generation symbologies, with special attention paid to ease of printing, ease of finding in any orientation, allowance for field distortion, high data security with user-selected redundancy, and efficient storage over the range from small to large data messages. The smallest Aztec Code symbol encodes 13 numeric or 12 alphabetic characters, while the largest Aztec Code symbol encodes 3832 numeric or 3067 alphabetic characters or 1914 bytes of binary data. BarDIMM Pro can scale the code with the definition of the small black square height/width.

Codablock-F

Codablock-F is a 2D barcode developed by ELMICRON, as an extension of CODE 128. Within its capacities, it is possible to cut a given CODE 128 into several pieces and to arrange them in a multirows symbol. A Codablock symbol may contain 2 to 44 rows of 1 to 61 characters (up to 122 for numeric data per row), and supports most features from Code 128.

DataMatrix

DataMatrix is a high density 2-D matrix code developed by RVSI – Acuity CiMatrix that can encode a lot of information in a very small space. The DataMatrix symbology has extensive error correction capabilities. A DataMatrix symbol can store between one and 3116 numeric or 2335 alphanumeric characters, and is scalable between a 1-mil square to a 14-inch square. Since the overall size of the DataMatrix symbol is infinitely scaleable, the Data Matrix symbols can be read at virtually any distance, given the right combination of DataMatrix size and reading equipment. BarDIMM can scale the code with the definition of the small black square height/width. BarDIMM will automatically optimize the encoding (binary, text, digits) by analyzing the data.

PDF417

The PDF417 is a high-density 2D barcode created by Symbol Technology and is now an ANSI/AIM USA standard. This barcode is composed of a stack of rows with small black rectangles arranged in columns. The number of rows and columns can be user defined or set automatically to fit a ratio (2:3 is the most common ratio). PDF417 features built-in error correction capability, automatic data compression and full ASCII and binary character sets. It can encode up to 1848 characters of information per barcode, based on the compression level achieved. 417 supports two encoding modes: ASCII (Letters, punctuation and digits) and Binary (any binary value between 0 and 244) modes. ASCII mode has a better data density than the binary mode (maximum 106 versus 177 bytes per cm²) and can encode much more data than the binary mode (maximum 1848 bytes versus 1108 bytes). BarDIMM Pro automatically selects the best encoding (binary or ASCII) for the supplied data. Also, note that PDF417 has extensive error correction capabilities. PDF417 barcodes are read with laser scanner and CCD cameras. Number of rows (min/max):3/90, number of columns (min/max):1/30. There are many options for the PDF417 symbol (like barcode resizing or forced size), activated using parameters of the font-like PCL sequence.

QRCode

QR code is a two-dimensional matrix symbol developed by DENSO Corporation. It is available in two models—Model 1 and Model 2 (enhanced version of Model 1). BarDIMM system supports four-level error correction and a wide range of symbol sizes. BarDIMM can scale the code with the definition of the small black square height/width.  A QRCode symbol can include up to 7089 numerics or 4296 alphanumeric characters with high compression, data being binary, Kana or Kanji.

UPS Maxicode

The MaxiCode barcode is a 2D barcode that consists of 884 hexagons surrounding a bull’s-eye finder pattern. One bit of information is encoded by one hexagon. Up to 100 characters of information can be encoded in one square inch, which is the approximate fixed size of such a barcode. The MaxiCode symbology includes built-in error correction capability, automatic data compression and the full ASCII character set.