Jul 25, 2006
Symbol Quality For 2D Codes
By Fraser Ross
Question: What can I expect in quality from my high speed printer and 2D scanners?
Answer:
Before I get into specifics, I would like to cover the ability of 2D codes such as datamatrix to recover from damage. This is referred to as error recovery and is probably the most exciting feature of the 2-D class of barcodes. When a barcode is called recoverable, this refers to the ability of the decoding software (scanner), to recover the contents of the barcode even when the symbol itself is damaged. This is accomplished by building in redundancy. If the scanner detects damage, it will attempt to re-build the data from redundant data elsewhere in the symbol. DataMatrix symbols, for example, have levels of correction called ‘ECC’. This stands for Error Correcting CodeWords.
In terms of printers, there are a few things to keep in mind:
1) You will notice that 2D codes such as datamatrix and PDF17 are not curved, and are made up of lines and boxes. Since you are not dealing with curves, resolution does not case an issue.
2) COPI supplies the optimal font for the particular print device. The can be a Xerox 300 DPI resource, AFP 240, AFP 300, PCL, PostScript Type 1 and Truetype fonts. All of these can be expected to provide excellent quality.
3) The camera system that reads the symbol will dictate the minimum and maximum size required for optimum readability. We have found that it is similar in many post-processing devices.
4) On printers that tend to ‘splash toner’, or extend over the size of a printer dot, you may be required to print a larger symbol to assure that the scanning system works without camera stalling.
Our team will be happy to work with you, and these issues are relatively simple to identify and resolve.
For background information about Matrix symbologies and COPI's CodeZ Matrix product, please click here.
You can read more about 2D symbologies by reading my archives by pressing here. For more information on the exciting technology, feel free to email me at fr@888999copi.com or me at 888-999-copi ext. fr.
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