The type of bar code that we are most familiar with, the one dimensional (1D) bar code, is made up of a series of parallel lines of varying width and spacing. First developed in the late 1940s as a means to label and track rail road cars, the 1D bar code was conceived based on the idea of elongating the dots and dashes that make up Morse Code, whereby the thin (dots) or thick (dashes) lines are used to represent and store data.
This is a 1D bar code of the alphabet.
As the uses of 1D bar codes became more and more wide-spread, the amount of space that was available to store data was not enough, so a new generation of bar code was created and this is known as two dimensional (2D) or matrix bar codes. Instead of parallel lines and only one dimension (horizontal) to store data in, 2D and matrix bar codes use patterns of squares, dots, hexagons and other geometric patterns to store data, so a second dimension is used (vertical). While there are several different types of 2D or matrix bar codes, the two most popular are Quick Response (QR) and Data Matrix.
QR Code
QR Code was created by Japanese corporation DENSO Wave Incorporated in 1994. The "QR" is derived from "Quick Response", as the creator intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed. QR codes are common in Japan, where they are currently the most popular type of 2D codes. QR Code works in a similar way to Data Matrix codes in that there are "position" (the square bull's eye in the upper left and right corners and lower left corner), "alignment" (the square bull's eye in the lower right corner) and "timing" marks (a line of black and white modules that span between the three "position" squares).
This is a QR Code of the alphabet.
Data Matrix Code
Data Matrix symbols are rectangular in shape and usually square, they are made of cells (modules): little elements that represent bits. Depending on the situation a "light" module is a 0 and a "dark" module is a 1, or vice versa. Every Data Matrix is composed of two solid adjacent borders in an "L" shape (called the "finder pattern") and two other borders consisting of alternating dark and light modules (called the "timing pattern"). Within these borders are rows and columns of cells encoding information. The finder pattern is used to locate and orient the symbol while the timing pattern provides a count of the number of rows and columns in the symbol. As more data is encoded in the symbol, the number of cells (rows and columns) will increase.
If you are in need of additional technical information please contact me.
Data Matrix symbols are rectangular in shape and usually square, they are made of cells (modules): little elements that represent bits. Depending on the situation a "light" module is a 0 and a "dark" module is a 1, or vice versa. Every Data Matrix is composed of two solid adjacent borders in an "L" shape (called the "finder pattern") and two other borders consisting of alternating dark and light modules (called the "timing pattern"). Within these borders are rows and columns of cells encoding information. The finder pattern is used to locate and orient the symbol while the timing pattern provides a count of the number of rows and columns in the symbol. As more data is encoded in the symbol, the number of cells (rows and columns) will increase.
This is a Data Matrix Code of the alphabet.
If you are in need of additional technical information please contact me.
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