Method, device, and system for generating, repairing, and identifying an incomplete QR code

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12380302-B2
Application number	US-202217589659-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 31, 2022
Priority date	Dec 26, 2017
Publication date	Aug 5, 2025
Grant date	Aug 5, 2025

Abstract

A method of reading a QR code is described. The method includes capturing an image of an incomplete QR code. The incomplete QR code has a missing region with a missing functional pattern. Further, the functional pattern is added to the missing region in the incomplete QR code to form a recovered QR code. Subsequently, pixels are added randomly to the missing region surrounding the functional pattern to add to the recovered QR code. The recovered QR code has a number of functional patterns and a number of modules. Further, data is read from the recovered QR code.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of reading a QR code, the method comprising:
capturing an image of an incomplete QR code, the incomplete QR code having a missing region with a functional pattern that is missing;
adding the functional pattern to the missing region in the incomplete QR code to form a recovered QR code;
in response to adding the functional pattern, randomly adding pixels to the missing region surrounding the functional pattern to add to the recovered QR code, wherein the recovered QR code comprises a number of functional patterns and a number of modules; and
reading data from the recovered QR code.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a version of a complete QR code that corresponds with the incomplete QR code; and
identifying the functional pattern in the complete QR code that is missing in the incomplete QR code, wherein the functional pattern comprises a position detection pattern.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the functional pattern further comprises an alignment pattern.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the missing region has an area that is smaller than a product of the area of the complete QR code and an error correction level.

5. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
obtaining the incomplete QR code having the missing region from the captured image, wherein obtaining the incomplete QR code having the missing region comprises:
determining a partial region of an original QR code;
performing a blocking or deletion operation on the partial region of the original QR code by blocking or deleting the partial region to obtain the incomplete QR code.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the incomplete QR code has a number of modules on a complete side of the incomplete QR code, and wherein the version of the complete QR code that corresponds with the incomplete QR code is determined from the number of modules.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
determining a symbol structure corresponding to the version of the complete QR code, wherein adding the functional pattern to the missing region in the incomplete QR code is based on the determined symbol structure.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having embedded therein program instructions, which when executed by a processor causes the processor to execute a method of reading a QR code, the method comprising:
capturing an image of an incomplete QR code, the incomplete QR code having a missing region with a functional pattern that is missing;
adding the functional pattern to the missing region in the incomplete QR code to form a recovered QR code;
in response to adding the functional pattern, randomly adding pixels to the missing region surrounding the functional pattern to add to the recovered QR code, wherein the recovered QR code comprises a number of functional patterns and a number of modules; and
reading data from the recovered QR code.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the method further comprises:
determining a version of a complete QR code that corresponds with the incomplete QR code; and
identifying the functional pattern in the complete QR code that is missing in the incomplete QR code, wherein the functional pattern comprises a position detection pattern.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the functional pattern further comprises an alignment pattern.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the missing region has an area that is smaller than a product of the area of the complete QR code and an error correction level.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the method further comprises:
obtaining the incomplete QR code having the missing region from the captured image, wherein obtaining the incomplete QR code having the missing region comprises:
determining a partial region of an original QR code;
performing a blocking or deletion operation on the partial region of the original QR code by blocking or deleting the partial region to obtain the incomplete QR code.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the incomplete QR code has a number of modules on a complete side of the incomplete QR code, and wherein the version of the complete QR code that corresponds with the incomplete QR code is determined from the number of modules.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the method further comprises:
determining a symbol structure corresponding to the version of the complete QR code, wherein adding the functional pattern to the missing region in the incomplete QR code is based on the determined symbol structure.

15. A QR code device, comprising:
a memory;
an image capture device; and
a processor coupled to the memory and the image capture device, wherein the processor is configured to:
capture an image of an incomplete QR code, the incomplete QR code having a missing region with a functional pattern that is missing;
add the functional pattern to the missing region in the incomplete QR code to form a recovered QR code;
in response to addition of the functional pattern, randomly add pixels to the missing region surrounding the functional pattern to add to the recovered QR code, wherein the recovered QR code comprises a number of functional patterns and a number of modules; and
read data from the recovered QR code.

16. The QR code device of claim 15 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine a version of a complete QR code that corresponds with the incomplete QR code; and
identify the functional pattern in the complete QR code that is missing in the incomplete QR code, wherein the functional pattern comprises a position detection pattern.

17. The QR code device of claim 16 , wherein the functional pattern further comprises an alignment pattern.

18. The QR code device of claim 16 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
obtain the incomplete QR code having the missing region from the captured image, wherein to obtain the incomplete QR code having the missing region, the processor is configured to:
determine a partial region of an original QR code;
perform a blocking or deletion operation on the partial region of the original QR code by blocking or deleting the partial region to obtain the incomplete QR code.

19. The QR code device of claim 16 , wherein the incomplete QR code has a number of modules on a complete side of the incomplete QR code, and wherein the version of the complete QR code that corresponds with the incomplete QR code is determined from the number of modules.

20. The QR code device of claim 19 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine a symbol structure corresponding to the version of the complete QR code, wherein the functional pattern is added to the missing region in the incomplete QR code based on the determined symbol structure.

Assignees

• Alibaba Group Holding Ltd

Inventors

• Wang Jiaheng
• Xie Jun

Classifications

• G06K19/06037

  multi-dimensional coding · CPC title

• G06K7/1417 Primary

  2D bar codes · CPC title

• G06K7/1473

  error correction · CPC title

• G06K7/1491 Primary

  the method including a reconstruction step, e.g. stitching two pieces of bar code together to derive the full bar code · CPC title