EJMT Abstract

Quick Response (QR) codes are two-dimensional bar codes that have become a common medium for easily accessing information such as URLs, phone numbers, and small amounts of text. Creating a QR code requires placing data in a prescribed format so that it can be displayed on a surface and then detected by common QR code scanner software. Like other physical means of storing data, QR codes are prone to errors when their data is interpreted in a digital format. Reed-Solomon codes provide a mechanism for ensuring that QR code scanners can reliably process information when errors occur. This involves encoding information in the form of polynomial coefficients using finite field arithmetic. Utilizing Reed-Solomon codes can sometimes allow a logo and emblem to be embedded within a QR code to advertise its purpose, even while the logo or emblem covers part of the data to be scanned. In this paper we will describe how QR codes are constructed, and how Reed-Solomon codes are incorporated within them to provide error correction. To assist in demonstrating this, we will use technology involving Maplets.