Data Matrix Rectangular Extension

Data Matrix Rectangular Extension

The Data Matrix Rectangular Extension symbology is an enhancement to Data Matrix Rectangular that provides a greater range of symbol dimensions.

Also known as: DMRE.

Uses:

• Marking narrow areas with more data than a rectangular Data Matrix holds, where the readers support DMRE (ISO/IEC 21471).

Variants:

• Data Matrix is the standard square variant of the symbology.
• Data Matrix Rectangular is the original rectangular variant of Data Matrix that provides a limited range of symbol dimensions.

Standards: ISO/IEC 21471.

Data and Options

• The data field can contain any extended ASCII data. The default interpretation of data by readers is in accordance with ISO/IEC 8859-1. When supported by the receiver, characters from other code pages can be encoded using Extended Channel Interpretation (ECI).
• When the parse option is specified, any instances of ^NNN in the data field are replaced with their equivalent ASCII value. This is useful for specifying unprintable characters.
• When the parsefnc option is specified, non-data function characters can be specified by escape sequences:
  • ^FNC1: FNC1. Recommendation: Consider GS1 DataMatrix for encoding GS1 AI syntax data.
  • ^PROG: PROG - Reader programming
  • ^ECI000000 to ^ECI999999: ECI indicators
  • ^FNC@: FNC1 in second position, written before an AIM application indicator of one letter or two digits at the start of the data, e.g. ^FNC@T... or ^FNC@99.... See FNC1 in second position.
  • ECIs are not available with FNC1 in first or second position.
• The encoder compresses ISO/IEC 15434 messages in Format 05 or 06, except in a Structured Append symbol.
• The sampos, samtotal and samid options make the symbol one of a Structured Append sequence of 2 to 16 symbols, which a reader reassembles into a single message. All three are required:
  • sampos is the position of the symbol in the sequence, from 1 to samtotal.
  • samtotal is the number of symbols in the sequence.
  • samid is the file identification, from 1 to 64516, and is the same in every symbol of the sequence. It distinguishes the symbols of one message from those of another.
  • An FNC1 at the start of the first symbol selects GS1 mode for the whole message. At the start of a later symbol it is a field separator.
  • FNC1 in second position is only available in the first symbol.
  • Structured Append is not available with the raw option or reader programming, nor for GS1 DataMatrix, GS1 Digital Link Data Matrix or Royal Mail Mailmark symbols.
• When the dotty option is specified the modules are rendered as dots rather than squares. The dot radius can be adjusted using the inkspread option.
• The columns and rows options are used to specify the size of the symbol.
• The version option can also be used to specify the symbol size, as version=RxC. Valid options are 8x18, 8x32, 8x48, 8x64, 8x80, 8x96, 8x120, 8x144, 12x26, 12x36, 12x64, 12x88, 16x36, 16x48, 16x64, 20x36, 20x44, 20x64, 22x48, 24x48, 24x64, 26x40, 26x48, 26x64.
• If columns, rows and version are unspecified the encoder will default to creating a symbol that is the minimum size to represent the given data.
• The c40headerlength option specifies the number of leading characters in the data field that must be stored using C40 encodation.
• The raw option denotes that the data field is providing the input as pre-encoded codewords in ^NNN format, suitable for direct low-level encoding.

Examples

A DMRE symbol with a fixed size:

Data:    1234
Options: version=8x80
Encoder: datamatrixrectangularextension