Re: Issue 185 in zxing: Micro QR code support (decoding at least)

[zx...@googlecode.com]

Comment #3 on issue 185 by rpechayr: Micro QR code support (decoding at
least)
http://code.google.com/p/zxing/issues/detail?id=185

Any chance this issue is reconsidered ? I think micro QR Code is a nice
candidate for small 2D QRcode containing short URL. Zxing could very well
become leader for this format.
Furthermore am I wrong to think that the decoding algorithms should look
like standard QR Codes ?

[zx...@googlecode.com]

Comment #4 on issue 185 by sro...@gmail.com: Micro QR code support

(decoding at least)
http://code.google.com/p/zxing/issues/detail?id=185

No, I don't think Micro QR codes are used. It is inherently more difficult
to read, and is too small to encode a short URL. There's no real reason to
not use a version 1/2 URL. I don't know what the second comment means.

[zx...@googlecode.com]

Comment #5 on issue 185 by jesseljo...@gmail.com: Micro QR code support

(decoding at least)
http://code.google.com/p/zxing/issues/detail?id=185

a Micro QR code could hold 14 alphanumeric characters or 23 numeric
characters in a 15-module by 15-module space; the Micro QR specification
also only requires a 2-module margin as opposed to QR's 4-module margin.

14 alphanumeric characters could hold a shortened URL (such as bit.ly --
bit.ly/9CdxgE is only 13 characters), and when combined with the "Custom
Search" feature, a 13-module by 13-module could be used to hold the
6-character identifier after the domain name.

While Micro QR doesn't have much "standardized" use, it has great
personal/proprietary applications (product identification, labeling moving
boxes, etc).

Attached is a size comparison of a QR code vs a Micro QR code containing
the same data "9CdxgE"; the total space requirement of the Micro QR code is
just 43% of that of the standard QR code.

Attachments:
qr_vs_microqr.png 973 bytes

[zx...@googlecode.com]

Comment #6 on issue 185 by jesseljo...@gmail.com: Micro QR code support

(decoding at least)
http://code.google.com/p/zxing/issues/detail?id=185

(P.S.: I would ultimately like to see this on the Android subproject, and
assume that if it were integrated into the core project it would filter
down to the subprojects, correct?)

[zx...@googlecode.com]

Comment #7 on issue 185 by mescal...@hush.com: Micro QR code support

(decoding at least)
http://code.google.com/p/zxing/issues/detail?id=185

A M4 symbol (17 x 17 modules) holds up to 21 alphanumeric characters (error
correction level L). Normal URLs fit into this size. Support it!

[zx...@googlecode.com]

Comment #8 on issue 185 by johan.ad...@gmail.com: Micro QR code support

(decoding at least)
http://code.google.com/p/zxing/issues/detail?id=185

I cannot pretend to know how much work it may or may not take to add
support for µQR but I am all for it. It is a part of the QR code spec, and
I imagine that the basic decoding is very much similar which ought to mean
that the amount of coding needed is much less than for the implementation
of a whole new protocol.

The specification is available, the implementation is (my guess) far more
than half done already. The code itself is not widely used globally yet,
but without a stable and widely used reader/decoder the chance of more
widespread use will not increase. A good, working and stable encoder is
already available at http://code.google.com/p/postscriptbarcode/ (I use
http://www.terryburton.co.uk/barcodewriter/generator/ and
http://www.roubaixinteractive.com/PlayGround/Binary_Conversion/Binary_To_Text.asp
to generate µQR online, with full options available at
http://code.google.com/p/postscriptbarcode/wiki/QrCode). There is even a
TeX package for including all the supported barcode formats in TeX/LaTeX
documents
(http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/graphics/pstricks/contrib/pst-barcode/).

ZXing is, in my impression, an active project aiming to offer a (close to)
complete decoder library. By adding support for the full QR code standard
ZXing would be even closer to this goal, and lots of people would have the
chance of starting to use this format. As suggested in comment #5
(http://code.google.com/p/zxing/issues/detail?id=185#c5) this format would
e.g. be great for labelling personal stuff, boxes and more, which I would
love to be able to do. The lack of a good and widely available decoder
makes the creative use of this standard difficult.

I trust that the ZXing coders consider themselves to have good and valid
reason for not implementing support for µQR, but I hope that they will
reconsider it. If I had the time and familiarity with the code I would love
to make this contribution myself, but I do not find this realistic at the
moment.

Some limited URLs can be encoded in µQR, as the one below, but quite
honestly I think full QR is more useful for this application.

Attachments:
µQR-wz-se-r.png 337 bytes

[zx...@googlecode.com]

Comment #9 on issue 185 by johan.ad...@gmail.com: Micro QR code support

(decoding at least)
http://code.google.com/p/zxing/issues/detail?id=185

Sorry, forgot to add white border and information about EC level on the
image.

Here all barcodes contain the URL http://wz.se/r (personal short URL
pointing to my Google profile, now part of my G+ world).

The two µQR codes are labelled with EC level, the full QR version has EC
level M just as the middle µQR.

Attachments:
QR-wz-se-r.png 1.3 KB

[zx...@googlecode.com]

Comment #10 on issue 185 by srowen: Micro QR code support (decoding at
least)
http://code.google.com/p/zxing/issues/detail?id=185

Yes I have the spec. This is an optional part of it. It is virtually unused
and is less scannable than a version 1 normal QR code. I have no motivation
to implement this as a result. You are welcome to if you want it done.

[zx...@googlecode.com]

Comment #11 on issue 185 by johan.ad...@gmail.com: Micro QR code support

(decoding at least)
http://code.google.com/p/zxing/issues/detail?id=185

Thank you, srowen!

Your brief and concise reply seems honest and sincere, and I sense that you
have not just dismissed the possibility but actually weighed pros and cons.

I still think that the use of µQR would increase a lot if ZXing had support
for decoding it, but you are not motivated to implement it partially based
on the lack of use of µQR. Seems like a "Catch 22" scenario. :-)

I for one am satisfied with your explanation and I will (try) not to bother
you again unless it concerns problems with my contributed implementation.
It is far far down on my to do list, but who knows... I wrote a quite
elaborate calendar program in PostScript, so maybe I will get into image
processing and barode decoding in Java someday.

[zx...@googlecode.com]

Comment #12 on issue 185 by dr.eduar...@gmail.com: Micro QR code support

(decoding at least)
http://code.google.com/p/zxing/issues/detail?id=185

I'd like to examine how difficult it would to implement this feature from
the existing code. I'm trying to employ qr-codes in low-resolution
scenarios, and the # of modules reduction may be the difference between
success or failure here.

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[zx...@googlecode.com]

Comment #13 on issue 185 by srowen: Micro QR code support (decoding at
least)
http://code.google.com/p/zxing/issues/detail?id=185

You wouldn't have to reimplement all the image processing of course. You
would have to reimplement detection and decoding, both of which can borrow
some subroutines from normal QR codes. I imagine it's a week of full-time
work if you're fully up to speed, several weeks otherwise, to finish a
clean patch and test it.

I think micro QR codes are actually harder to scan that version 2 QR codes
because you have no easy 4th anchor point from which to correct for
perspective.

[zx...@googlecode.com]

Comment #14 on issue 185 by mark.jer...@gmail.com: Micro QR code support

(decoding at least)
http://code.google.com/p/zxing/issues/detail?id=185

I really want to decode a few micro cr codes I found, and possible ones I
create in the future. As far as a few google searches goes, there is NO
ready-to-use tool available, that can do it, and if you implement it, you'd
be the first.

What is this spec you talk about? I can only find one QR code spec which is
the original JIS X510:2004, which is all-Japanese. I know some Japanese,
but this is all tech-babble and I can't select text to copy word into my
translator as every page is an image. If your spec is different, can I have
a copy?

[zx...@googlecode.com]

Comment #15 on issue 185 by srowen: Micro QR code support (decoding at
least)
http://code.google.com/p/zxing/issues/detail?id=185

Look up ISO 18004:2006. This is the current spec for QR codes. The JIS spec
is obsolete.

[zx...@googlecode.com]

Comment #16 on issue 185 by mark.jer...@gmail.com: Micro QR code support

(decoding at least)
http://code.google.com/p/zxing/issues/detail?id=185

While searching for ISO 18004:2006 I found a free copy of the Technical
Corrigendum 2009 that should be applied to the 2006 version. Did you get
that? http://webstore.iec.ch/webstore/webstore.nsf/Artnum_PK/42726

[zx...@googlecode.com]

Comment #17 on issue 185 by srowen: Micro QR code support (decoding at
least)
http://code.google.com/p/zxing/issues/detail?id=185

This is just errata, yes. I don't think it is relevant to this issue.

[zx...@googlecode.com]

Comment #18 on issue 185 by mbi...@gmail.com: Micro QR code support

(decoding at least)
http://code.google.com/p/zxing/issues/detail?id=185

For the record: If you want to scan µQR on an Android phone, this seems to
be the only app capable of it:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.threegvision.products.inigma.Android

And they have an SDK, maybe you can get ideas on how to implement Micro QR
scanning from there:

http://www.3gvision.com/qr-barcode-reader-sdk.html