Four dimensional (4D) color barcode for high capacity data encoding and decoding

摘要

A method for encoding and decoding color barcodes to increase their data capacity. The encoding steps include determining a shape, a foreground color and a background color for each data cell, wherein a combination of the shape, foreground and background colors for the data cell is chosen from a plurality of such combinations in accordance with a value of the digital data to be encoded; and coloring some pixels in the data cell with a foreground color and other pixels with a background color, in accordance with the shape, foreground and background colors for the data cell determined above. The decoding steps include segmenting the data cells, recognizing a shape, a foreground color of the shape and a background color of the data cell, and obtaining digital data from a combination of the shape and foreground and background colors in each data cell.

主权项

1. A method for encoding a color barcode having a plurality of cells including data cells, comprising the steps of:
(a) determining a shape, a foreground color and a background color for each data cell to encode digital data, wherein a combination of the shape, foreground color and background color for the data cell is chosen from a plurality of combinations of shapes and foreground and background colors in accordance with a value of the digital data to be encoded in the data cell; and (b) coloring for each data cell, a subset of a plurality of pixels in the data cell with the foreground color and a remainder of the pixels with the background color, in accordance with the shape, foreground color and background color for the data cell determined in the step (a).