QR coding has brought barcode-type application into the reach of anyone  equipped with a PC and a cellphone with a camera, explains Nizar Diamond Ali

Most of us are familiar with 'barcode' as a result of our shopping experience. Now what if you were able to replace the shopkeeper's scanner with your own mobile phone's camera and start capturing product information right from the supermarket shelves? Or if your cooking oven could read the item cover placed inside and adjust its temperature accordingly without having you to read and adjust manually?

Yes — this is all possible through 2D Barcode, like Quick Response code (QR), which was initially developed in 1994, in Japan, for tracking car manufacturing processes but is a public standard now.

QR code (or any 2D barcode standard) simply converts a piece of text into a square-shaped image which can then be read by its corresponding reader to convert the image back to recover the original text. The twist in this simple barcode-like functionality comes from the fact that QR code images can be generated online very easily, and can be read even through a low resolution rudimentary mobile phone camera. This extends the possibilities of simple barcode in many ways, such as higher capacity to store information, easy generation of coded images, scanning (here we call it decoding) without expensive hardware. Thus images can be read off the computer display screen for decoding which means that a phone's browser can directly pick up lengthy web addresses without having the user typing in any text.

Today we take a look at some free websites that can be used to generate QR code images and cellphone applications which can be used for decoding those images.

Open QR code

http//openqrCode.com/

This is a straight forward website where the user can type in any text and get a corresponding QR code image by pressing the 'Generate' button. There is an 'Options' link just below the text entry area form where error correction level and image size can be controlled — but to use, defaults settings are recommended.

Notice the image displayed is small in size, and often results in error while decoding, particularly if low mega pixel camera is used. To get around this problem, use the download link and open the image with an image editor, zoom-in a bit and then capture the image using a decoding application, like QR Midlet to get the text, it is available as free application from qrdemo.com.

Kaywa

http//qrCode.kaywa.com/

This site is one of easiest for QR code enthusiastic to follow, yet it is feature-rich and can be used with experiment with different types of QR codes. To start with, this site provides an image generator and a decoding application both; coded images can be generated for a web address or URL, text message, phone number or simple text. While reading the generated image with Kaywa decoder, the decoded text is recognised and relevant options from the handset are displayed. For example, if a telephone number is found, options of dialling or saving it as a contact appears. If it is a web-address, the user can directly launch default web browser to visit the website, and if it is an SMS option, to send SMS to the destination appears.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind while working with Kaywa decoder application. First, it is about downloading the application; though there is an option of downloading the application files and copying them manually to a cellphone using a USB cable or Bluetooth, but this may not work with every phone because of the way JAR and JAD files are to be placed. To get around this issue, simply point the web browser from within the mobile phone to http//reader.kaywa.com. Here, a list of handsets appears in a dropdown box. If your handset is not present, select the one that is nearest to the model you have. For example, Sony Ericsson K300 is present in the list but K320i is not, but you can download a version of the former. Once Kaywa Reader is launched, and if there is an error in decoding images, go to More > Resolution > Settings and select Basic instead of the default Best.

Uses and applications of QR code

QR code is a largely underutilised technology, mostly due to the fact that mobile phones available in Pakistan do not come with default decoder application. Once decoding applications become common, there could be a number of practical uses for QR codes, such as printing contact information on visiting cards, brochures and printed ads as QR code images allow interested audience to take a snapshot and directly save the information in mobile phone. This can save a lot of time in adding contacts and noting down address of locations, website and so on, and it also eliminates the need of having a scanner to convert paper-based information in electronic format through scanning, or even making it editable and readable through OCR — optical character recognition.

Since converting an existing text to a QR code image is easy, by either utilising a free online application download or developing a customised one using free programming libraries, with which companies can create and add their desired information on items such as employee identity cards, letter heads, product packaging and literature.

Furthermore, there is a possibility of generating QR code images for already encrypted text so that only a particular application can read off an image — that is, using a custom QR code decoder as a 'password' to read confidential information that a company would not like everyone with a camera to read.

Other applications could be inventory and fixed assets tracking as well, because decoding does not necessarily require a mobile phone camera. There are other handheld scanners available, which work pretty much like the standard barcode scanners. Such a system has an added advantage over barcode, in which creating QR code images are much easier than barcode and there is a lot of room for customisation given the open architecture around which QR code has been built.

The application of QR coding offers much more than traditional barcode at a much lower cost, and makes it easy for almost everyone to read the product information. So get ready and start snapping!