Ever Wondered How QR Code Generates That Movie Ticket?
SciTech
You can spot it everywhere. Be it registering for any upcoming event in your college or doing payment for that cool new merchandise, QR code is super easy to share and use. Let’s now understand the mechanism by which it makes our digital lives so smooth!
Crux of the Matter
Who Thought Of It?
QR codes were invented in 1994 by Denso Wave, a Toyota subsidiary, to help in the manufacturing process, and tracking vehicles and their parts, by quick scanning.
Barcode v/s QR Code
Barcodes are scanned in a line, i.e data about an item is limited to what can be placed in that one stretch of stripes.
QR codes can be read both vertically and horizontally, so they add another dimension for data to be written and scanned.
So What’s Inside This Code?
The quiet zone allows scanners and readers to optically place where the QR code begins and ends.
Visual Guide Of The Code 👇
Step-By-Step Working Of A QR
After you point your phone at a QR code, the phone’s camera scanner recognizes the 3 position markers in the code.
The scanner begins at the bottom right, where it encounters the mode indicator. The 4 data modules indicate the data type (numeric, alphanumeric, byte, or kanji) of the rest of the encoded data.
The character count indicator tells the scanner about the total number of characters in the encoded data.
Finally, the scanner proceeds to the error correction data modules, to know how much data is backed up in case of code damage.
What About A Dynamic QR Code?
Its encoded information can be changed after creation, like a short redirection URL, which redirects to the longer destination URL.
Where Can We See QR Codes?
Directing customers to a website or leaving reviews.
Downloading an app.
Giving an electronic business card.
Finding an address.
Making payments.
Getting more information about museum artefacts in a tour.
Curiopedia
Chinese video-streaming company Bilibili used hundreds of drones to create a giant QR code in Shanghai night sky in April 2021. The light show advertisement was put up on the first anniversary of China release of the Japanese role-playing game Princess Connect!