Colyton Industrial Marking Solutions
design and manufacture custom marking solutions for industrial marking requirements We work with ID-Integration Inc. in the US to provide a comprehensive solution to your UID marking problems.QR Codes
QR Codes
A QR Code is a matrix code (or two-dimensional bar code) created by Japanese corporation Denso-Wave in 1994. The "QR" is derived from "Quick Response", as the creator intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed.
QR Codes are common in Japan, where they are currently the most popular type of two dimensional codes. Moreover, most current Japanese & Nokia mobile phones phones can read this code with their camera. Although initially used for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing, QR Codes are now used in a much broader context, including both commercial tracking applications and convenience-oriented applications aimed at mobile phone users (known as mobile tagging).
QR Codes storing addresses and URLs may appear in magazines, on signs, buses, business cards or just about any object that users might need information about. Users with a camera phone equipped with the correct reader software can scan the image of the QR Code causing the phone's browser to launch and redirect to the programmed URL. This act of linking from physical world objects is known as a hardlink or physical world hyperlinks.
Users can also generate and print their own QR Code for others to scan and use by visiting one of several free QR Code generating sites.
Applications
Whilst originally used for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing, QR Codes have been superceded in this role by Data Matrix codes as they offer better long term security of data. The QR code can achieve a maximum of 30% recoverability but at a reduced data carrying capability and is now used in less stringent areas in particular, both commercial tracking applications and convenience-oriented applications aimed at mobile phone users (known as mobile tagging).
The design of QR makes it possible to incorporate eye-catching images of logos, characters, or photos into QR code, without losing any information of the code.
The colorized image represents the first 12 stanzas of Lewis Carroll's "The Walrus and the Carpenter". Encoded in binary mode with "Level M" error correction it contains approximately 2300 characters, but, due to the density of the information, decoding it would require a high resolution image that is unavailable to many QR Code readers (particularly mobile phones).
In 2009, QR-code was used for the marketing campaign of the Movie 9 at the San Diego Comic Con. Cards with QR-codes integrated into the artwork were handed out to patrons. These limited edition cards could be read with QR-capable cellphone or presented to the Focus Features both for prizes and access to exclusive stories about each character in the movie.
Technical Specifications
QR Code is an open format - the format's specification is available royalty-free from its owner, who has promised not to exert patent rights on it. The term QR Code itself is a registered trademark of Denso Wave Incorporated.
QR Code data capacity
Numeric only Max. 7,089 characters
Alphanumeric Max. 4,296 characters
Binary (8 bits) Max. 2,953 bytes
Kanji/Kana Max. 1,817 characters
Error correction capacity
Level L 7% of codewords can be restored.
Level M 15% of codewords can be restored.
Level Q 25% of codewords can be restored.
Level H 30% of codewords can be restored.
QR codes use the Reed Solomon error correction.
The higher the error correction the less data that can be stored in a QR matrix.
Standards
There are several standards documents covering the physical encoding of QR Code:
* October 1997 AIM International
* January 1999 JIS X 0510
* June 2000 ISO/IEC 18004:2000 Information technology Automatic identification and data capture techniques Bar code symbology QR Code (now withdrawn)
Defines QR Code Model 1 and QR Code Model 2 symbols.
* 1 September 2006 ISO/IEC 18004:2006 Information technology Automatic identification and data capture techniques QR Code 2005 bar code symbology specification
Defines QR Code 2005 symbols, an extension of QR Code Model 2. Does not specify how to read QR Code Model 1 symbols, or require this for compliance.
At the application layer, there is some variation between implementations. NTT docomo has established de facto standards for the encoding of URLs, contact information, and several other data types. Google's open-source "zxing" project maintains a list of QR Code data types.