How QR works
The Technical Stuff
Embedded Files
A QR code menu example
How Do QR Codes Work?
A QR code is short for QUICK RESPONSE code and is a multi- dimensional bar code encoded with data. Encoded means converted into a particular form. In the case of QR codes, numeric and alphanumeric characters, bytes, and kanji convert into a unique two-dimensional arrangement of squares. When an optical scanner passes over those squares, it translates their arrangement back into that data’s original form.
Here’s an example.
We have create an example QR code-based digital restaurant table menu to showcase what we can do to encode a demo menu’s URL( the website containing the restaurant menu) into the QR code menu example.
In the QR code, the arrangement of the squares—or data modules, as they’re called—is actually a URL or website page. It’s just been translated from the alphanumeric string of the URL into a collection of squares. A QR code scanner on a smart phone or smart device will then translate the QR Code back to the original URL.
Parts of a QR Code
The most important parts of a QR code are:
Data module. This is the standard unit of the QR code. It’s typically a black square set against a white background. Though the colors and contrast can be different, black-on-white is the most optimal when creating a custom QR code. The arrangement of these black squares, or data modules, is what makes up the majority of a QR code.
Position marker. There are three position markers on every QR code. Consisting of an inner and outer eye, they allow scanners and cameras to quickly and accurately locate the data modules and the scanning direction.
Quiet zone. This is the blank area on all sides of the data module matrix that contains all the data modules and position markers. It allows scanners and readers to optically place where the QR code begins and ends.
How Do QR Codes Work Technically ?
While learning how to scan a QR code is easy for you, the QR code and scanner are doing a bit more work.
The QR code scanner begins at the bottom right of the QR code. It then moves up two data modules at a time until it hits the first position marker. Then it moves two data modules to the left and goes down. It repeats this right-to-left, up-then-down zig-zag process until every data module is covered.
Here’s a basic six-step outline of how the scanning process works.
Point your smart phone or device at a QR code.
The QR code scanner in your phone’s camera recognizes the three position markers in the QR code. With a sufficient quiet area, your scanner is now aware of where the edges of the QR code are.
The scanner begins at the bottom right, where it encounters the mode indicator. These four data modules indicate what data type (numeric, alphanumeric, byte, or kanji) the rest of the encoded data is.
Next, the scanner encounters the character count indicator, which are the next 8 data modules up from the mode indicator. These indicate how many characters the total encoded data is.
Knowing the data type and character length, the scanner then continues its zig-zag path along the data modules until all it retrieves all the encoded information and reaches the end indicator.
After reading the final character, the scanner proceeds along its path to the error correction data modules. Within these encoded modules are one of four levels of error correction. Or how much of the QR code’s encoded data is backed up in case of code damage.
What Information Is in a QR Code?
There are three types of information that a QR code stores: size, error correction level, and data type.
Size
A QR code can be made up of a maximum of 177 rows and 177 columns, which makes for a possible 31,329 data modules. Most QR codes aren’t that big, though.
The size of a QR code corresponds to its version. The smallest a QR code can be is 21 rows by 21 columns, which is version 1. 25 x 25 is version 2, and on and on. The aforementioned largest QR code possible, 177 x 177, is version 40.
It's also worth noting that QR code minimum size is usually based on scan distance and not data size.
Error Correction Levels
Encoded in a QR code is one of four QR code error correction levels. The higher the correction level, the more damage a QR code can sustain while still being scanned successfully. It’s like a stored backup of the QR code. The lower the correction level, the more space left for size and data.
Data Type
QR codes can store up to 7,089 numeric characters or 2,953 alphanumeric characters. They can also store bytes and kanji, but those are less frequently used. These numbers assume the lowest error correction level.
In practice, this means QR code uses include anything that uses numbers, letters, punctuation, and symbols to communicate. Business cards, QR codes on tables in restaurants, authentication, checking into hotels, logging into websites, contact less payments, digital wine lists, QR code food uses, and more.
For context, the amount of characters a standard one-dimensional bar code can hold is around 20 to 100 characters. This ability of QR codes to store such a large amount of information—and provide it quickly—makes them much more useful tools than standard bar codes. In virtually every industry.
But the more characters you store in a QR code, the bigger, more complicated the QR code has to be, right? Yes and no. That’s the difference between static QR codes and dynamic QR codes.
How Do Dynamic QR Codes Work?
A dynamic QR code is a QR code whose encoded information can be changed after creation. That’s because the information encoded in a dynamic QR code is a short redirection URL. That means a URL that redirects to another URL, or what’s called a destination URL.
On the destination URL is the content. This can be a digital wine list, a syllabus, contact information, an invitation, etc. That content can be changed entirely without having to change the QR code. Additionally, the destination URL itself can be changed entirely without having to change the QR code. Because what’s encoded in the QR code is the redirection URL, not the destination URL.
This setup also allows dynamic QR code tracking of scanning and usage, which is crucial for any form of QR code marketing.
Using a dynamic vs static QR code is one of the choices a business makes when creating a QR code. And, given the benefits of using dynamic QR codes, many wonder how dynamic QR codes work. It’s a fair question, because they are quite impressive. They’re also quite simple because the encoding process handle the information the same way.
Static or stationary encoded documents do not have a website or web pages encoded in the QR code where the Dynamic document has a website URL encoded in the QR Code.
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