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QR CODES
The Next Big Leap in Mobile Web

www.wipro.com

Author: Senthil Kumar Sundaramurthy Architect, Business Engineering & Architecture, Wipro Technologies

Table of Contents
03. 03. 03. 04. 04. 06. 06. 07. 08. 09. 10. 11. 11. 11. Origin About QR Codes Overview Barcodes Vs QR Codes Features How QR Codes work? How to create QR Codes? How to read QR Codes? QR Codes and Mobile Phones Factsheet Where QR Codes are used? How QR Codes can be used? Points to Ponder Future of QR Codes

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This is the time to scan or read a QR code with your iPhone, Android or other camera-enabled Smartphone and link to digital content on the web; activate a number of phone functions including email, IM and SMS; and connect the mobile device to a web browser.Yes, Black-and-white barcodes in the size of a postage stamp are connecting people with smartphones to Internet sites, delivering immediate information and marking another advance in the world of the mobile web.

Origin
In 1994, QR Code was a kind of two dimensional symbology created by Toyota subsidiary Denso-Wave as one of the most popular types of two-dimensional barcodes. QR Codes originated within the technology hungry country of Japan and have merely only recently began to become popular in the Middle East and Europe.

Overview
QR Codes first hit mainstream when they were initially used for tracking parts by vehicle manufacturers. After a while, companies began to see the scope for where QR Codes could be used elsewhere within the world. The most commercial use for QR Codes is in the telecommunications industry where the mobile phone seems to be the biggest driver of their popularity. QR Codes are two-dimensional (2D) matrix barcodes

About QR Codes
The acronym QR is derived from the term Quick Response.The company Denso Wave originally spawned the term QR as the creator intended that such barcodes and their contents were to be decoded at high speed electronically. QR Codes are similar to the barcodes used by retailers to track inventory and price products at the point of sales. The key difference between the two is the amount of data they can hold or share.

that can hold thousands of alphanumeric characters of information whereas barcodes are linear one-dimensional codes and can only hold up to 20 numerical digits.

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QR Code is a matrix barcode or 2-dimensional code that can be read by QR Code readers as well as camera phones.The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on the white background. The information encode can be text, URL or any other data. QR Code (2D Code) contains information in both the vertical and horizontal directions, whereas a bar code contains data in one direction only. QR Code holds a considerably greater volume of information than a barcode.

BarcodesVs QR Codes
QR Codes have become more popular than the typical barcode as the typical barcode can only hold a maximum of 20 digits, whereas the QR Code can hold up to 7,089 characters. This makes the use and diversity of QR Codes much more appealing than their older counter part, the barcode. Partially part of the reason QR Codes can hold more data, is because if you compare a typical barcode to a QR Code, you can see one major difference; barcodes only span horizontally whereas QR Codes can span horizontally and vertically. Statistic - QR Codes are capable of encoding the same amount of data in approximately one-tenth the space of a traditional bar code. Such minute QR Codes are called Micro QR Codes.

Small Printout Size

QR Code is capable of encoding the same amount of data in approximately one-tenth the space of a traditional bar code since QR Code carries information both horizontally and vertically.

Kanji and Kana Capability

QR Code is capable of Japanese encoding JIS Level 1 and Level 2 kanji character set.

Features
High Capacity Encoding of Data
QR Code is capable of handling several dozen to several hundred times more information while conventional bar codes are capable of storing a maximum of approximately 20 digits.

Dirt and Damage Resistant

QR Code has error correction capability. Data can be restored even if the symbol is partially dirty or damaged.A maximum 30% of code words can be restored.

A QR Code symbol of this size can encode 300 alphanumeric characters

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Position
A great feature of QR Codes is that you do not need to scan them from one particular angle. QR Codes are capable of Omni directional (360 degrees) high-speed reading. QR Codes scanners are capable of determining the correct way to decode the content within the QR Code due to the three specific squares that are positioned in the corners of the symbol.

System Configuration
A QR Code system is used in combination with a QR Code printer (or QR Code creation software) and QR Code scanner.

Standards
Data Capacity
QR Codes are capable of handling of sorts of data, including numbers, alphabetic characters, Kanji, Kana, Hiragana, symbols, binary, and control codes. The Japanese standard for QR Codes devised by Denso Wave is JIS X 0510 which was released in January of 1999. The corresponding ISO International Standard, ISO/IEC 18004, was then approved in June of 2000. The standard was then updated back in 2006. (ISO/IEC 18004:2006).

A total of 7,089 characters can be encoded in one symbol alone. Numeric only: Max 7,089 characters / Alphanumeric: Max 4,296 characters Binary (8-bits): Max 2,953 bytes / Kanji, fullwidth Kana: Max 1,817 characters

License
The use of QR Codes is free of any license.The QR Code is clearly defined and published as an ISO standard. Denso Wave owns the patent rights on QR Codes, but has chosen not to exercise them. The term QR Code itself is a registered trademark of Denso Wave Incorporated.

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How QR Codes work?

Take a mobile phone such as the iPhone; nearly every mobile phone has a digital camera in todays world.The camera, along with decoding software can be used to capture a picture of the QR Code of which the QR Code software decoder then transform the data held with the QR Code to a meaningful action for the mobile phone:
*Connect to a web address *Download a MP3 *Dial a telephone number *Prompt your email client with a sender address

This can all be done within a matter of milliseconds making the transformation from a users mobile phones browser to the mobile web instantaneous.

How to create QR Codes?

The following sections talks about how to encode with an easy example, and no complex function(like structured append) is:

Example data is alphanumeric, and we select an alphanumeric mode - 0010

Character count indicator - Character count

indicator is character counts stored in each mode. (numeric : 10-bit long / alphanumeric : 9-bit long / 8-bit byte : 8-bit long /

Capacity - Capacity of a QR Code is determined by

version, error correcting level and encoding mode (e.g. numeric, alphanumeric etc)

KANJI mode : 8-bit long) Example data have 8 characters, we encode 8 in 9-bit long binary representation for alphanumeric mode. 0010 000001000

Encode to data code words - 8-bit data is treated as

a code word Example: To encode source data "ABCDE123" to QR Code in version1- error correcting level H (below 1-H)

Encoding data in binary representation

Alphanumeric mode: each character is converted to value in rule of below table. Next we consider delimited data by 2

Mode indicator - Mode indicator is created in 4-bit long

as binary representation. (numeric mode: 0001 / alphanumeric mode: 0010 / 8-bit byte mode: 0100 / KANJI mode : 1000)

numbers. First value increase 45 times and second value is added to it. Result value is encoded in 11bit long binary representation.When length of delimited data is 1, 6-bit long are used.

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In example data "AB" 45*10+11 "CD" "E1" "23" 45*2+3

If last data length is less than 8, padded 0. 00100000 01000001 11001101 01000101 00101001 11011100 00101110 10000000 If count of code words is less than symbol's capacity, then we alternately put "11101100" and "00010001" until full 00111001101 01000101001

45*12+13

45*14+1

461 553 631 93 0010 000001000

capacity. Now capacity of 1-H are 9, 00100000 01000001 11001101 01000101 00101001

01001110111 00001011101

Terminator
Add 0000 to result data in section: Encoding data in binary representation When length of encoded data is full in this version and error correcting level, terminator is not needed. 0010 000001000 00111001101 01000101001 01001110111 00001011101 0000

11011100 00101110 10000000 11101100 To decimal representation - 32 65 205 69 41 220 46 128 236 (Source: http://www.swetake.com/qr/qr2_en.html) Note: There are many resources which can help you to generate a QR Code, in Ubuntubuzz.com you can use application called 'qrencode', the qrencode could help you to generate your own QR Code complete with what size do you like (Large, Medium, or Small), a manual how to use a qrencode can be completely found here. A n o t h e r w ay, y o u c a n v i s i t t h i s w e b s i t e (http://qrcode.kaywa.com/) to generate your own QR Code.

Encode to code words

Result data in section:Terminator are delimited by 8bit. 00100000 01000001 11001101 01000101 00101001 11011100 00101110 10000

How to read QR Codes?

QR Readers help us to quickly scan them with camera and either launch a web site, show product info, display plain text, send an SMS message and much more. The following is the list of software vendors:
KAYWA Reader Nokia Reader i-nigma Reader Lynkee Reader UpCode QuickMark

SnapMaze

BeeTagg

NeoReader

ScanLife

MobileTag

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QR Codes and Mobile Phones

With the technology of mobile phones constantly expanding, especially within mobile internet, QR Codes seemed the perfect solution to quickly and efficiently bring mobile phone users onto the mobile web. QR Codes can be used to store all kids of data including such data such as a URL (Universal Resource Locator) or as most people know them; web addresses.This then allowed offline publications such as: Magazines/Papers/Business Cards/Buses/Signs/T-shirts. Or basically any medium that can accept the print of a QR Code to advertise their online product which would then direct the user to the medium.

Libraries
.Net - QR Code library (source: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/cs/qrcode.aspx) Encode content into a QR Code image which can be saved in JPEG, GIF, PNG, or Bitmap formats and Decode a QR Code image PHP - PHP QR Code (source: http://hirokawa.netflowers.jp/entry/4900/) Supports QR Code versions (size) 1-40 / Numeric, Alphanumeric, 8-bit and Kanji encoding. Implemented purely in PHP, no external dependencies except Gd2 Exports to PNG, JPEG images, also exports as bit-table / TCPDF 2-D barcode API integration Easy to configure / Data cache for calculation speed-up / Provided merge tool helps deploy library as a one big dependency-less file, simple to "include and do not worry" Debug data dump, error logging, time benchmarking / 100% Open Source, LGPL Licensed Java - QR Code decode/encode library under GPL v2 (source: http://qrcode.sourceforge.jp/)

Supports decoder for Java (J2SE, J2ME MIDP2.0/CLDC1.0) Pre-process Camera-captured image for better performance Filtering image noise / recognize angle of image automatically CUI / GUI / MIDlet Real time QR Code reader by Java Media Framework(JMF) and PC camera Python - Pyqrcode (source: http://pyqrcode.sourceforge.net/) To encode and decode the QR Code The encoder is based on Fukuchi Kentaro's libqrencode, with a small python hack from Stefano Pedemonte's PyQrCodec. The decoder is based on the best free and open source qrcode decoder written by Yusuke Yanbe, in java. It's built with AndiVajda's JCC. Ruby (source: http://nycrb.rubyforge.org/qrencoder) This Gem is a wrapper around a useful open-source library for creating QR Codes, a two-dimensional bar code format popular in Japan (and readable by cell phones even) created by the Denso-Wave Corporation in 1994.

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Factsheet
Best Buys Mood QR Codes
Best Buys use of QR Codes has become a benchmark for other retailers and their latest experiment is no exception. Posters (image right) have gone up at Best Buy Headquarters to test the viability of mood sampling.The relevant QR Code when scanned inputs a single value good or bad and a running total of goods and bads is displayed to the user.At the back end Best Buy techies can see the running totals and because each code is location specific they can attribute a mood to that location. I would not be surprised if this experiment is successful and rolled out to the stores. (Source: http://2d-code.co.uk/best-buy-mood-qr-code/)

ChangingThe Way Business Works With QR Codes

Are Americans past the point of treating QR Codes as merely a trend? I think we are seeing too many evidences in the recent past to continue treating QR Codes as a flash in the pan trend for the young and trendy. With QR Codes popping up everywhere in the country (especially in New York), we can safely deduce that QR Codes is most likely here to stay and that we now have to take a deeper look at how the not-so-new technology will affect our lives on a personal and professional level. (Source: http://www.beqrious.com/)

Nintendo 3DS Makes Mii Sharing Easy With QR Codes

Nintendo 3DS recently made a big, bold move towards making the device even more fun and interactive.You need to be in on the Nintendo game train in order to understand what a Mii is. (Source: http://www.beqrious.com/) Basically, it is an avatar or icon that you can create with the device. Mii was first introduced through Nintendo Wii. Kids, being the creative beings that they are, love to play around with the options to come up with an avatar that they can be proud of.

Make User-friendliness Top Priority When Launching QR Codes Campaigns

Because QR Codes technology is a relatively new technology in the United States, there is all the more reason to pay special attention to how we introduce it to consumers. Strictly speaking, there is no right or wrong way to use them. But there is an effective and interesting way to use them... and one that puts the interested consumers off. (Source: http://www.beqrious.com/)

We've Exceeded the 1,000 Friends Mark!

Today, we are just super excited because we have finally reached and exceeded the 1,000 'likes' or 'friends' on Facebook. It's something that we have been working really hard on.The blood, sweat and tears are well worth it. Understandably, every one of us here in the BeQRious office is a celebrative mood.What do we do in celebration, here we have a custom-made QR Code. Want to know what it does and where it leads to... why don't you whip out your smart phone and scan it and then let US know. (Source: http://www.beqrious.com/)

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Where QR Codes are used?

At Chukyo Coca-Cola Bottling - Product code, expiration

CSI recently used QR Codes as a plot twist in a TV

episode

The Nonprofit Technology Network used QR Codes to conduct a scavenger hunt at the recent NTEN conference

date, manufacturing history, and other data are encoded into QR Codes.The data is used for logistics management of food products.

Google is using QR Codes to highlight "Favorite Places" At Daido Limited Shipping destination, product code,

in search results
Editoras Online published a book that contained nothing

color, size, and other data are encoded into QR Codes for printing on shipping instructions of garment products.The data is used for shipping control. but QR Codes (no text what so ever) that when decoded provided content about love and hate
Audi made a giant QR Code out of people holding black

and white squares in a video advertisement

Lego created QR Code advertisement using Lego blocks Calvin Klein displayed a large QR Code on a billboard

that launched a racy advertisement

Real estate agents are putting QR Codes on "house for

sale" signs (Source: http://www.denso-wave.com)

Dicks Sporting Goods displayed a QR Code on the Best Buy has a QR Code iPhone app that provides

product information JumboTron during a football game.The fans took pictures of the QR Code which connected them to a website where they were offered discounts on purchases.
McDonald uses QR Codes on its packaging in Japan QR Codes are showing up on Japanese tombs providing

information about the deceased

QR Codes were used in the NBA all-star game Fox TV is using QR Codes to advertise TV programs Starbucks is using QR Codes for micro payments.

so consumers can access nutritional information, and review the amount of calories, fat, and carbohydrates in their meal
A couple of years ago, Ralph Lauren began placing QR

(Source: http://searchengineland.com)

Codes in print ads, store placements, and mailers.The QR Codes gave consumers access to their style guides, limited edition collections and exclusive video content.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull movie

posters were printed with QR Codes, giving users access to movies trailers. The user also received a QR Code discount coupon for their next concession purchase.
Pepsi printed QR Codes on bottles that redirected users

to a custom landing page to view content

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How QR Codes can be used?

You can develop loyalty programs-providing special offers on landing pages from paper-based content that is not accessible from any other source. You could push consumers to a website to view the daily offer, to see if they won a free prize or perhaps to participate in a contest. You could also conduct surveys where a user scans one of multiple choice codes and the select response is automatically sent back to the company.

Encode contact information or a short white paper on the back of a business card.This enables a paper to digital transfer of information. Also enables an easy connection by a mobile device to your website.You could also encode a map with directions for company visitors, or encode company info for display in Google maps.

Track print-based media effectiveness-tracking which ad or poster drove traffic to custom landing pages. Users can also interact with other printed media such as offers on paper-based gift cards and coupons. QR Codes can be printed on receipts with additional offers, or provide customer service contact information.

You can enable product purchase offers, and provide easy access to product information and reviews.You can also provide easy connections to down load applications and content.You could also register a bookmark, append a QR Code to a tweet using Bit.ly or encode access to a special webinar.

Users can interact with digital ads e.g. they can scan digital coupons and discount offers on a webpage.You could also place QR Codes in an email newsletter for additional offers or for event-based information.

You could print codes with product or contact information on business swag such as coffee cups, t-shirts and hats. Ive also seen several examples where QR Codes were tattooed on a mans arm.

Points to Ponder

Nokia's Symbian operating system is also provided with a barcode scanner, which is able to read QR Codes while

Google's mobile Android operating system supports QR Codes by natively including the barcode scanner (ZXing) on some models, and the browser supports URI redirection, which allows QR Codes to send metadata to existing applications on the device.

mbarcode is a QR Code reader for the Maemo operating system. In the Apple iOS, a QR Code reader is not natively included, but over 50 free Apps are available with reader and metadata browser URI redirection capability.

Future of QR Codes
The future of QR Codes is exciting and extremely bright with the capability of taking the social networking media in an upward direction. Not far are the days of QR Codes overtaking the Internet by embedding all the contents into the codes. Just scan and read.

About WiproTechnologies
Wipro Technologies, the global IT business of Wipro Limited (NYSE:WIT) is a leading Information Technology, Consulting and Outsourcing company, that delivers solutions to enable its clients do business better. Wipro Technologies delivers winning business outcomes through its deep industry experience and a 360 degree view of Business through Technology helping clients create successful and adaptive businesses.A company recognized globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services, a practitioners approach to delivering innovation and an organization wide commitment to sustainability, Wipro Technologies has 120,000 employees and clients across 54 countries. For more information, please visit www.wipro.com

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