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Overview
A barcode is machine-readable representation of information in a visual format. Earlier forms of barcode, such as linear barcode, stored data in the widths and spacing of printed parallel lines. While traditionally barcode encoding schemes represented only numbers, newer barcodes add new characters such as the uppercase alphabet to the complete ASCII character set and beyond. The drive to encode more information combined with the space requirements of simple barcodes led to the development of sophisticated barcodes like 2D barcodes, which consist of grid of square cells.
The ability of 2D barcodes to hold considerably greater volume of data, and a wider range of camera phones supported by the reader software had made 2D barcodes a new, interesting way to engage people into interactive mobile services. IDA has been working in conjunction with a number of solution vendors to engage the industry in promoting service potential of the technology, as well as proof of concepts that demonstrate the feasibility of 2D barcodes for mobile ticketing, mobile parking, ID authentication, location-based services, bill payment, etc.
Figure 1 - How 2D barcodes work
See also:
Various Types of 2D Barcodes
The most common and popular 2D barcode standards in use today include, QR Code, PDF417, Data Matrix, and MaxiCode. Of which, QR Code and Data Matrix have emerged as the two most preferred and well supported codes on existing mobile platforms. Other than being ISO-standards, namely ISO/IEC 18004 for QR code and ISO/IEC 16022 for Data Matrix, the reasons why these two codes are widely preferred can be attributed to the codes ability to encode a large number of data in a smaller sized code. Also, the error correction scheme inherent in the encoding algorithms enhance its usability, more importantly, greater developer support in terms of available encoding and decoding libraries have encouraged more mobile applications development in the usage of these two codes.
Figure 2 - Comparison of 2D barcode standards (Source:Denso Wave)
Other than the above mentioned ISO-standard 2D barcodes, there are also numerous other proprietary codes e.g. Colorcode and Shotcode, which have been designed and optimized for faster and more robust decoding performance for resource constrained mobile devices. The following table provides a general comparison between standards and non-standard codes, which we collectively term - Visual Codes.
Figure 2 - Comparison of 2D barcode types
2D Barcode Implementations
In Japan and Korea for instance, the proliferation of camera phones embedded with the 2D barcode reader has led to a wide variety of new, consumer-oriented applications aimed at simplifying the access of information and the creation of innovative mobile services that espouses the concept of ubiquitous computing; user-centric services and applications that adapt to the device owner's profile and current location. Some of these services include mobile e-ticketing where the consumers receive a m-ticket on his device for venue access authentication, up-to-date mobile news and stock information retrieval, e-learning over the mobile, querying time-schedule of buses, personalized multimedia stamp with greetings, TV media selling and mobile opinion polls, etc.
Figure 3 - 2D barcode applications in Japan
A typical scenario will see a mobile user capturing a 2D barcode placed in magazines, posters, newspapers, billboards or even the television using an appropriate reader installed on the phone. Upon capturing the image, the reader will decode the encoded information and connect the user to the service or product information in question. Depending on the encoded information, the reader would either connect the phone browser directly to a web resource or invoke the built-in media player if it is receiving a streaming media of the advertised product or service. Such an intuitive "one snap" connection solution provides a direct and effective introduction point to services which in the past would have required the user to key-in a long URL address on the mobile device and possibly multiple page loads before getting to the right content. For brand owners and businesses the ability to reach its targeted customers on a device which is always with the consumers offers a very compelling proposition for the brand owners and businesses. Also, the fact that this is a pull service access solution makes it much more acceptable for most consumers since they are in control of the entire process.
Decoding Strategy
Currently, the number of mobile phone with embedded 2D barcode reader is still very much limited to within the Japanese market. The reader usually comes preinstalled on most of the mid range J-phone with proprietary phone Operating System (OS). Decoding in most cases takes place on the mobile via the reader software. The reader carries out a series of scan of the image in real time to decode the 2D barcode. The auto scanning feature greatly improved the usability of the 2D barcode and is only possible because the reader software has access to the low level camera API for the phone OS. Access to such APIs would require permission from the handset manufacturers. Alternatively, mobile phones based on Open OSes such as Symbian, Brew, Windows Mobile and even embedded Linux (e.g.Qtopia) with clearly defined API resources will also be able to support reader based auto-scan mode.
Unfortunately, the majority of the mobile phone in the market today is based on proprietary OSes supporting the Java VM. For most of these phones access to the camera API is dependent on the support of the Mobile Media API (JSR-135). The Mobile Media API (MMAPI) extends the functionality of the J2ME platform by providing audio, video and other time-based multimedia support to resource-constrained devices. As a simple and lightweight optional package, it allows Java developers to gain access to native multimedia services available on a given device. Application developers however need to be clear about the distinction between MMAPI compliant and support for image capture through the camera resource. Some of the earlier MMAPI compliant phones apparently do not support camera capture functionality. On those phones that do, auto-scanning of image unfortunately is still not possible. For most Java readers, the 2D barcode is usually captured as a static image and post processed to decode the image content. To improve the success rate of decoding, in-built macro lens could be incorporated on the phone such as in the case of the Motorola V3x.
Figure 4 - Direct decoding on the phone and connecting to the URL address encoded on in the Datamatix code.
For phones without macro lens, which is the majority of the cases, the reader developer could choose to send an image of the captured 2D barcode to a pre-defined server via GPRS / 3G for post processing. In the case of an encoded URL, the reader will invoke the phone browser once it received the decoded URL address from the server.
To address the usability of 2D barcode for mass market Java phones, a number of solution providers only encode short alphanumeric strings (typically less than 20 characters) in the 2D barcode. The 2D barcode image is intentionally kept simple, making it easier to distinguish the image composition especially when captured with a low end VGA camera phone. The decoded 2D barcode is then looked up against a backend database via the server and mapped to the correct URI resource address or some pre-formatted text or binary result and returned to the reader application on the phone. Relevant applications such as the real media player or the browser can then be automatically invoked to present a seamless access experience for the consumers. Such server assisted model is highly recommended for transactional and secure services where the solution provider requires some form of authentication and audit logging capability. The transactional information often also provides useful data for consumer service study and market analysis.
Figure 5 - Server assisted model decodes 2D barcode at a trusted host and returns the results associated with the barcode in the back-end database
In all the above cases, an appropriate reader application will need to be downloaded onto the mobile, which can either be done over a WAP link or via a simple SMS request. Alternatively, the 2D barcode images can also be captured and send as an MMS to the processing server without the need for any specialized reader on the mobile. The server will send back a WAP push message (essentially an SMS message) containing the URL addresses of the requested content. All the user needs to do is to accept the link and will be automatically connected via WAP to the requested content.
Technology Comparison
There are often quite a number of overlapping technologies that can be used to provide similar services albeit in slightly different manner. RFID and Near Field Communication (NFC) technology together holds great potential for future mobile services, as have been demonstrated by NTT DoCoMo in Japan with the launch of its Osaifu-Ketai or mobile wallet services. Service adopters should be aware that many of the use cases enabled by Visual Code could potentially be replaced by NFC. Even if so, we believe Visual Code will remain relevant because of its cheaper cost and ease of deployment. Certainly in the print and TV media, Visual Code will dominate as it will be quite a while before we see electronic paper and other alternative technologies being cheap enough for mass market adoption.
The following table lists some of the differences between NFC and Visual Code.
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NFC |
Visual Code |
| Hardware & Software Requirements |
Objects need to be tagged with RFID tags and NFC chips need to be embedded in reader devices |
Printed Visual Code on any surface and normal camera phones with software reader needed |
| Cost |
RFID tags : S$8-156 (active)
: S$0.70 (passive)
NFC chips : S$35 |
Normal printing cost which is much cheaper |
| Availability |
At least one year away from mass market adoption locally |
Now |
| Durability |
Durable in harsh and dirty environment |
Durability depends on the material the code is imprinted on. |
| Usability |
Non line of sight reading. Ease of use with contactless reading. |
Line of sight reading required. Need to startup reader application to capture visual code. |
| Security |
Difficult to replicate |
Can be replicated easily but controls can be incorporated in reader to validate the authenticity of the code |
| Standardisation Effort |
Industry led effort through the NFC Forum which includes many major equipment manufacturers and vendors |
Fragmented with no data standardization effort led by any industry group. |
| Targeted Markets |
Micro payment / transportation / inventory management / smart posters |
Adverts on TV, print, indoors and outdoors posters / e-ticketing / simple info retrieval for products or events |
Adoption and Promotion Strategy
Depending on the envisaged applications, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) believes that there will be demand for both the standalone and server assisted type of readers. For most information exchange and info-on-demand type of applications IDA believes a standalone type of reader will be more suitable. Example of such scenarios include storing of business card info to address book and product information for supermarket items detailing the country of origin, health / halal certification as well as expiry dates, etc all useful information for the general consumers. Whereas for transactional type of applications, for example payment and ticketing, the server assisted model will be more appropriate. There is therefore a need for both types of readers to be made available to the industry.
IDA also recognized the fragmented adoption of various Visual Code standards in the market today and foresees that it would be difficult for the industry to come to a consensus on a single de-facto standard for global adoption. As such, it's more appropriate to identify the data requirements needed for various mobile services, e.g payment, ticketing, LBS, etc and initiate a standardization effort through key industry partners and/or local ITSC standard body to specify the minimum set of data that should be supported for each type of service applications. Doing so helps to ensure interoperability between services and applications even with the use of different Visual Codes.
To facilitate the awareness and adoption of Visual Codes, IDA is keen to work with interested parties to proliferate mobile application and services based on the technology.
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