General question about QR code scanning

wrote:
I got a thing in the mail about using USPS (post office) to ship holiday
gifts. It says to scan your QR code at home to speed up shipping. I know
that a smartphone with an app can do this, using the phone's camera, but
how can someone using a computer do this? (Or maybe it's not
possible)....

I just take my stuff to the post office, but I always like to learn how
this technology stuff all works....

Well, without knowing the answer, I'd say your machine
needs "vision". Your desktop would at least need a webcam.
Or alternately, if you have a point&shoot digital camera,
you could take a picture of the offensive QR code, and
load that into your computer.

Then the next job, is getting a program to orient the
picture so it can be decoded, then convert it into
a URL for you.

https://www.nextofwindows.com/how-to...ode-on-your-pc

So for fun, I took the picture of a QR code from that sample
article (cropped it in GIMP so just the QR squares were
in the picture), and uploaded it here.

https://webqr.com/

And that site gave back a URL of "http://en.m.wikipedia.org".

That means you don't even need a resident Win32 program
on your PC. You can also upload the image of the QR to
a web site and the web site can decode it for you. And
out comes a URL. Or other textual info.

Paul

I got a thing in the mail about using USPS (post office) to ship holiday
gifts. It says to scan your QR code at home to speed up shipping. I know
that a smartphone with an app can do this, using the phone's camera, but
how can someone using a computer do this? (Or maybe it's not
possible)....

I just take my stuff to the post office, but I always like to learn how
this technology stuff all works....

In message , Paul
writes:
wrote:
I got a thing in the mail about using USPS (post office) to ship holiday
gifts. It says to scan your QR code at home to speed up shipping. I know
that a smartphone with an app can do this, using the phone's camera, but
how can someone using a computer do this? (Or maybe it's not
possible)....
I just take my stuff to the post office, but I always like to learn
how
this technology stuff all works....

Me too. I'm puzzled: how are you supposed to get the QR code to scan
before you've handed the parcel over the counter?

Well, without knowing the answer, I'd say your machine
needs "vision". Your desktop would at least need a webcam.
Or alternately, if you have a point&shoot digital camera,
you could take a picture of the offensive QR code, and
load that into your computer.

Or a scanner of course.

Then the next job, is getting a program to orient the
picture so it can be decoded, then convert it into
a URL for you.

https://www.nextofwindows.com/how-to...ode-on-your-pc

So for fun, I took the picture of a QR code from that sample
article (cropped it in GIMP so just the QR squares were
in the picture), and uploaded it here.

https://webqr.com/

Thanks for that - looks like a useful site. (Asked if I wanted to
"share" my webcam! I closed the asking box this time, but presumably if
I'd said yes, I could have held something with a QR in front of it!)

And that site gave back a URL of "http://en.m.wikipedia.org".

That means you don't even need a resident Win32 program
on your PC. You can also upload the image of the QR to
a web site and the web site can decode it for you. And
out comes a URL. Or other textual info.

Paul

In practice, are QR codes - at least on products, in magazine articles,
and the like - used for anything _other_ than URLs? I ask because I'm
off and on looking for something that will interpret them for my blind
friends (might well be an iPhone app.), but if all they normally contain
are URLs, I doubt they'd be that useful. (In that most things that have
them also have the URL printed nearby anyway, and OCR can do that for my
friends anyway - and URLs probably aren't much use to them anyway, given
the poor design [for VH/VI folk] of most web pages.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

She looked like the kind of girl who was poured into her clothes and forgot to
say when - Wodehouse

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message , Paul
writes:
wrote:
I got a thing in the mail about using USPS (post office) to ship holiday
gifts. It says to scan your QR code at home to speed up shipping. I know
that a smartphone with an app can do this, using the phone's camera, but
how can someone using a computer do this? (Or maybe it's not
possible)....
I just take my stuff to the post office, but I always like to learn how
this technology stuff all works....

Me too. I'm puzzled: how are you supposed to get the QR code to scan
before you've handed the parcel over the counter?

Well, without knowing the answer, I'd say your machine
needs "vision". Your desktop would at least need a webcam.
Or alternately, if you have a point&shoot digital camera,
you could take a picture of the offensive QR code, and
load that into your computer.

Or a scanner of course.

Then the next job, is getting a program to orient the
picture so it can be decoded, then convert it into
a URL for you.

https://www.nextofwindows.com/how-to...ode-on-your-pc

So for fun, I took the picture of a QR code from that sample
article (cropped it in GIMP so just the QR squares were
in the picture), and uploaded it here.

https://webqr.com/

Thanks for that - looks like a useful site. (Asked if I wanted to
"share" my webcam! I closed the asking box this time, but presumably if
I'd said yes, I could have held something with a QR in front of it!)

And that site gave back a URL of "http://en.m.wikipedia.org".

That means you don't even need a resident Win32 program
on your PC. You can also upload the image of the QR to
a web site and the web site can decode it for you. And
out comes a URL. Or other textual info.

Paul

In practice, are QR codes - at least on products, in magazine articles,
and the like - used for anything _other_ than URLs? I ask because I'm
off and on looking for something that will interpret them for my blind
friends (might well be an iPhone app.), but if all they normally contain
are URLs, I doubt they'd be that useful. (In that most things that have
them also have the URL printed nearby anyway, and OCR can do that for my
friends anyway - and URLs probably aren't much use to them anyway, given
the poor design [for VH/VI folk] of most web pages.)

The above is the first QR I've ever processed.
I couldn't tell you from first hand experience,
how many non-URL applications there are.

The article here shows a few uses for it, and it
can pass binary data. The interesting part
for me, is a claim it uses Reed Solomon code
(that's the same kind of error correcting code
used on CDs, to acquire data even when the disc
is scratched).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code

"The processor locates the three distinctive squares
at the corners of the QR code image, using a smaller
square (or multiple squares) near the fourth corner
to normalize the image for size, orientation, and
angle of viewing. The small dots throughout the QR
code are then converted to binary numbers and
validated with an error-correcting algorithm."

The RS interleave layout is presumably an attempt
to guess how the label will be damaged or defaced.
For example, there's one QR sample they show, which
still works, and a corner is missing. I think the
RS was interleaved the way it was, to handle cases
like this on purpose.

So we should be testing this one on that web site :-)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_cod...de_Damaged.jpg

Paul

On Sat, 18 Nov 2017 21:03:51 -0500, Paul wrote:


In practice, are QR codes - at least on products, in magazine articles,
and the like - used for anything _other_ than URLs? I ask because I'm
off and on looking for something that will interpret them for my blind
friends (might well be an iPhone app.), but if all they normally contain
are URLs, I doubt they'd be that useful. (In that most things that have
them also have the URL printed nearby anyway, and OCR can do that for my
friends anyway - and URLs probably aren't much use to them anyway, given
the poor design [for VH/VI folk] of most web pages.)

I dont think they are all for URLs. I've seem them used at fast food
reataurants in place of coupons. Sometimes they are used as "price tags"
on items in stores (in place of UPC bars). I have seen them at events,
for example if I am at the State Fair, if I have a smartphone, I can
scan one of them and my phone will give me the fair's schedule. (this
use probably is a URL). Another one I saw was a radio station contest
poster that said scan this QR code to enter the contest. They are
everywhere now. Magazines use them to (I guess) identify the name month
and year of the magazine. I've even seen them on billboards now. I
suppose you're supposed to photograph the billboard... ???


One other thing I wonder about, wont they ever run out of codes? There
are only so many ways to modify those dots before they run out of
them... And considering how often they are being used, there has to be a
point in time when they simply run out....

I dont remember what website I saw this, but someone made a QR code that
looked like a horse's head in the middle, with the usual large corner
squares. I dont know if it would actually scan, or was just someone
being creative, but it made me wonder if they could be made as artwork
pertaining to their use. For example, can the radio station contest
make the QR code look like a radio, or can the fast food place make the
QR look like a hamburger, or their logo?

I recall when they first started using them QR codes (not too many years
ago), and I began seeing them everywhere and had no idea why they were
putting those funny looking boxes on stuff. Since I did not know what
they were called, I tried to google them, with no results, (since I did
not know what to search for). I finally used google/images and searched
for barcodes and found a QR code and then I was able to search for that.
I always wonder how average people are supposed to know about this
stuff, unless they are tech savvy.

wrote:

I always wonder how average people are supposed to know about this
stuff, unless they are tech savvy.

When there's no way for you to get service,
that's when you'll figure it out.

"What, you don't take cash ?!?"

That day is coming. And it's not that far off.

Paul

On Sun, 19 Nov 2017 21:14:08 -0500, Paul wrote:

wrote:

I always wonder how average people are supposed to know about this
stuff, unless they are tech savvy.

When there's no way for you to get service,
that's when you'll figure it out.

"What, you don't take cash ?!?"

That day is coming. And it's not that far off.

Paul

I have to agree. I think the internet is near it's death!
Newsgroups are already there....

In message ,
writes:
On Sat, 18 Nov 2017 21:03:51 -0500, Paul wrote:


In practice, are QR codes - at least on products, in magazine articles,
and the like - used for anything _other_ than URLs? I ask because I'm
off and on looking for something that will interpret them for my blind
friends (might well be an iPhone app.), but if all they normally contain
are URLs, I doubt they'd be that useful. (In that most things that have
them also have the URL printed nearby anyway, and OCR can do that for my
friends anyway - and URLs probably aren't much use to them anyway, given
the poor design [for VH/VI folk] of most web pages.)

I dont think they are all for URLs. I've seem them used at fast food
reataurants in place of coupons. Sometimes they are used as "price tags"
on items in stores (in place of UPC bars).

(By UPC bars, do you mean an ordinary barcode?)

I have seen them at events,
for example if I am at the State Fair, if I have a smartphone, I can
scan one of them and my phone will give me the fair's schedule. (this
use probably is a URL). Another one I saw was a radio station contest
poster that said scan this QR code to enter the contest. They are

I'd be most surprised if that isn't just a URL too.

everywhere now. Magazines use them to (I guess) identify the name month
and year of the magazine.

Like the coupon use, I'd have thought an ordinary barcode would do for
that.

I've even seen them on billboards now. I
suppose you're supposed to photograph the billboard... ???

I bet those are URLs too.

One other thing I wonder about, wont they ever run out of codes? There
are only so many ways to modify those dots before they run out of
them... And considering how often they are being used, there has to be a
point in time when they simply run out....

I don't think they're allocated from a list, in the way grocery barcodes
(I think) a I think they actually are coded information (such as a
URL).

I dont remember what website I saw this, but someone made a QR code that
looked like a horse's head in the middle, with the usual large corner
squares. I dont know if it would actually scan, or was just someone

I think the error-correcting in them does allow quite a lot to be
obscured by a logo or similar. Or do you mean they made it so the little
square dots made the horse?

being creative, but it made me wonder if they could be made as artwork
pertaining to their use. For example, can the radio station contest
make the QR code look like a radio, or can the fast food place make the
QR look like a hamburger, or their logo?

I think you _do_ mean the actual dot pattern made the pictures!

Not quite the same, but I have seen them hand-assembled out of mosaic
tiles: there is a craft shop (it's in the Old High Street, Folkestone,
Kent, England) that sells assorted materials, including those for making
your own mosaics, and I have noticed that several of its neighbours (and
I think the shop itself) have tiles - I assume made by the shop owner -
on their front that are clearly QR codes.

I recall when they first started using them QR codes (not too many years
ago), and I began seeing them everywhere and had no idea why they were
putting those funny looking boxes on stuff. Since I did not know what
they were called, I tried to google them, with no results, (since I did
not know what to search for). I finally used google/images and searched
for barcodes and found a QR code and then I was able to search for that.
I always wonder how average people are supposed to know about this
stuff, unless they are tech savvy.

Yes, there is definitely a gimmick aspect to them! It's mainly
smartphones that this aspect is aimed at, I think, though they do have
serious applications in industry, where the necessary precision of
scanner placement can be better controlled.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

.... the greatest musical festival in the world that doesn't involve mud.
- Eddie Mair, RT 2014/8/16-22

On Mon, 20 Nov 2017 16:53:38 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:

I think the error-correcting in them does allow quite a lot to be
obscured by a logo or similar. Or do you mean they made it so the little
square dots made the horse?

YES

being creative, but it made me wonder if they could be made as artwork
pertaining to their use. For example, can the radio station contest
make the QR code look like a radio, or can the fast food place make the
QR look like a hamburger, or their logo?

I think you _do_ mean the actual dot pattern made the pictures!

YES