Barcode Scanning Technology for Camera Phones

Imagine a day when a customer in a store can pull out a camera phone, take a picture of a barcode on a product, and download information about the item onto the cell phone's screen. Or the shopper can find other sources where the product is offered more cheaply, calculate the shipping costs, and order it immediately from a competitor.

That day has already arrived in Japan, where camera phones are as well-established as the mobile connection between the real world and the Internet world. The mobile technology that enables the link between barcodes and the Internet is gaining a foothold in the US, where retailers and advertisers are faced with the challenge of how to best utilize it.

Essentially, the mobile technology requires a product or poster marked with a standard (1-dimensional) or square (2-dimensional) barcode, a camera phone loaded with barcode-reading software and a website where information about the product is available.

The most prevalent barcode in Japan is the QR code, for Quick Response code, developed by Japan's Denso Wave. The barcodes are information-loaded digital squares that appear on food packaging, billboards, posters, magazine ads and business cards. Take a picture of the QR code on a movie poster, for instance, and within seconds the advertiser can provide the user with a movie synopsis and trailer, show times and locations, and the ability to order tickets.

Although consumers initially had to download barcode-reading software when the technology was launched a few years ago, now phones in Japan come loaded with barcode-reading software.

As camera phones become more popular in the US, companies here are rolling out barcode readers for phones. ScanBuy provides software that reads standard product barcodes shot with a camera phone, then compares prices against those listed at Internet-marketers like PriceGrabber.com and Amazon.com.

Nextcode's mobile software, ConnexTo, links barcodes scanned from posters or publications to web-based messages from advertisers, and barcodes on food packaging to nutritional information or recipe suggestions. NeoMedia Technologies' barcode scanner software, named qode, was used in a recently published marketing textbook to deliver updated information and online content via camera phones.

One drawback in the US is that there's no prevalent 2-dimensional barcode in use and not all software can read all barcodes. Another is that users generally have to download the software onto their camera phones.

Cell-phone maker Nokia is working to eliminate that second problem, as two new models of its camera phones in the US come equipped with barcode readers. Deals between scanner software makers and mobile phone companies are frequently being announced.

Researchers are looking for new ways to implement the barcode-scanning mobile technology. IBM Japan, for instance, is working on printing barcodes in invisible ink that appear only when photographed by a camera phone outfitted with a special light. That way, the code doesn't take up display space and can be invisibly printed over a newspaper or magazine article.

The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in San Francisco is developing technology that could help visually impaired people to get around easier. In this system, barcodes are placed next to specially designed symbols that can be located by vision software running on a camera phone. When the cell phone locates the symbol, it then scans the barcode and translates the information into a verbal message.