Traceability and Quality Control in Traditional Chinese Medicine: From Chemical Fingerprint to Two-Dimensional Barcode

Table 1

Comparison between different two-dimensional barcodes.

Code system	QR Code	Data matrix	PDF 417
Developer	DENSO (Japan)	RVSI Acuity; CiMatrix (USA)	Symbol Technologies; Inc. (USA)
Type	Matrix	Matrix	Stacked barcode
Data capacity
Numeric	7,089	3,116	2,710
Alphanumeric	4,296	2,355	1,850
Binary	2,953	1,556	1,018
Kanji	1,817	778	554
Error correction level	Max 30%	Max 25%	Max 50%
Identification speed	30/s	2~3/s	3/s
Readable direction	360°	360°	+/−10°
Main features	Large capacity; Small printout size	Small printout size	Large capacity
Main usages	All categories	FA	OA
Standardization	AIM International; JIS, ISO	AIM International; ISO	AIM International; ISO
Sample picture