Data Matrix, Barcodes and Scanners

The very same Chromebooks we've been enrolling unfortunately weren't labeled with the typical qr or barcode. This wasn't an issue with getting them enrolled, but the IT department had to order a special scanner that was able to scan data matrix codes for checking them out to students at the beginning of the new school year.

Thankfully, the new device arrived at the school today and I got to play with. I have to admit, I might have been a little too excited, but I wasn't alone. I got to geek out a bit with my supervisor. We picked the new one up as we walked through the campus with a barcode scanner and a laptop in hand. We were adding inventory into our new ticketing system, but thought it wouldn't hurt to check out the new device.

The first thing we noticed is that the beam is circular and feathers out.

Here are the scanners:

data matrix scanner

barcode scanner

Scanners set to Stun

data matrix code

The codes on the chromebooks are 6mm x 6mm. and they actually consists of four 3mm x 3mm fields, each with unique data. I learned that these kinds of codes are classified as two dimensional as opposed to the one dimensional like a bar code because they contain multiple bits of information.

One problem we discovered is that when the data matrixes are scanned in a spread sheet, all of the data was entered in a single field. In the case of these laptops, it was serial number, an unknown number, the model and make and then the warranty length. They were all separated by commas.

My supervisor however adjusted the setting of the new scanner so only the first ten characters, the length of the serial number, were entered when the chromebooks were scanned.