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QR codes are now used in a much broader context, including both commercial tracking applications and convenience-oriented applications aimed at mobile-phone users (termed mobile tagging). QR codes can be displayed on buildings, such as this one being painted in Cape Town. Applications include product tracking, item identification, time tracking, document management, and general marketing.
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The QR labelling system was applied beyond the automobile industry due to its fast readability and greater storage capacity compared to standard UPC barcodes.
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The required data is then extracted from patterns that are present in both horizontal and vertical components of the image. Ī QR code consists of black squares arranged in a square grid on a white background, including some fiducial markers, which can be read by an imaging device such as a camera, and processed using Reed–Solomon error correction until the image can be appropriately interpreted. To efficiently store data, QR codes use four standardized modes of encoding (i) numeric, (ii) alphanumeric, (iii) byte or binary, and (iv) kanji. In practice, QR codes contain data for a locator, an identifier, and a website visitor tracking. A barcode is a machine-readable optical image that contains information specific to the labelled item. QR code for the URL of the English Wikipedia Mobile main pageĪ QR code ( Quick Response code) is a type of two-dimensional matrix barcode, invented in 1994, by Japanese company Denso Wave for labelling automobile parts.
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