Method and device for the manipulation of microcarriers for an identification purpose

A method for manipulation of a microcarrier for the purpose of identifying the microcarrier, said method comprising the steps of:

• a detection step for detecting an encoded microcarrier, wherein the encoded microcarrier includes a code written thereon;
• and
• a positioning and orientation step prior to or during the detection step, wherein said positioning and orientation step comprises:
• distributing a plurality of microcarriers, that includes said encoded microcarrier, in a one-layer system which results in a plane configuration having two dimensions (X, Y), and
• restricting rotational movement of the plurality of microcarriers, wherein the plurality of microcarriers have an ellipsoidal or cylindrical shape and wherein the positioning and orientation step results from the ellipsoidal or cylindrical shape of the plurality of microcarriers.