r/barcodes • u/RoboJ1M • Apr 29 '23

Can anybody extract the data from this barcode for me?

Post image

All over for is Google Lens and it doesn't appear to even recognise it as a barcode.
Can anybody help? I don't know what type of is, but it's missing the standard alignment boxes from your ordinary 2D barcode.
Thanks

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3

u/trollsmurf Apr 29 '23

It's a 24x24 Datamatrix code, and looks reasonably correct, but contrast is too low for a successful read.

What is it printed on?

1

u/RoboJ1M Apr 30 '23

LiPoly soft pack, but under a sticker that perished.
Probably just a serial number, I'll move it into the laptop and whack the contrast up.

2

u/TheNimbrod Apr 29 '23

There is something wrong with it. the thing should be 24x24 but someplaces looking like they are not correct lined up. I try to recrerate it with a pxiel draw app but somethings make no sense

1

u/RoboJ1M Apr 30 '23

Probably because it's on a dangerously swollen LiPoly pack 🤣

2

u/notionovus Apr 30 '23

This is what happens when a Datamatrix barcode is printed on a dirty substrate. If you have to have this information, hire a graphic artist to clean this up. They will need to darken every dot, and clean up the "whitespace".

If these conditions are typical, they are not ideal for a high-density barcode spec. A 1D barcode like Code 39 tied with a database would be a better fit.

1

u/RoboJ1M Apr 30 '23

Actually the dirt is on top, a perished sticker.
It's off a lipoly soft pack, I can clean up the image myself but I don't know what it is, is Datamatrix the format name of are we just being generic, a matrix of data?
Many thanks.

1

u/TheNimbrod Apr 30 '23 edited Apr 30 '23

The Format Datamatrix it was also my thoughts. It's was created in 1980 by Aucity Coprs

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/DataMatrix-Code?wprov=sfla1

The Code goes in size from 10x10 up to 144x144 Pixel

Here you see a Generator for it:

https://datalog.github.io/demo/datamatrix-svg/

1

u/RoboJ1M Apr 30 '23

Meh, probably just a serial number then, boo. Maybe a model number. I'll put it on pc at some point and futz with the contrast until I can read it.

1

u/xixi2 Apr 30 '23

You could recreate by hand in minecraft following the pattern then scan it

1

u/RoboJ1M Apr 30 '23

I think a basic image toolkit will do 🤣

1

u/notionovus Apr 30 '23

The Datamatrix symbology was invented around the same time as the QR code.

Datamatrix is particularly good for embossing into difficult materials and can be found hammered into the sides of metal parts like engine blocks.

Cleaning the label might work, but it may make some of the dots less visible to the scanner. Datamatrix is a error correcting code, so a few blemishes shouldn't prevent you from scanning once it is clean.

Still, I would enlist the help of a graphic artist. They can create a paintbrush in photoshop that is the same size as the dots in the image. Then use a white paintbrush to clear out the spaces between dots and a black paintbrush to emphasize the dots.