Blinking LEDs to give QR codes a run for their (ad) money
By Darren Murph 
posted November 23rd 2009 11:59PM
posted November 23rd 2009 11:59PM
We're still waiting for this so-called QR code revolution to hit North America, but our contemporaries across the Pacific are already looking to develop the next big thing. Reportedly, a smattering of mega-corps (including the likes of Toshiba and NEC) are joining hands in order to concoct a rivaling technology that requires even less effort to get content from billboards, books and posters to one's mobile. The heretofore unnamed system utilizes blinking LEDs to send data to phones, and so long as an ad has enough room for a minuscule light, consumers can come within five meters of it and receive the associated information by simply pointing their handset in the direction of the light. If all goes well, the technology will be ready for commercialization by 2013, or just after phase one of the Robot Apocalypse.
hmmmm...interesting. I wonder what kind of possibilities this could open up.
I think this wasnt thought out far enough. So during christmas how does it defferentiate between christmas lights and the ad led? Also this reqiers additional hardware to display, as opposed to stateless paper that needs no paper. The only things that this solves is phones with sucky cameras.
@Einlander
This was actually thought out far enough. The technology will most likely revolve around IR based LED technology so that someone walking around can point a phone at a device to receive a coded signal like a barcode. It doesn't mistake something like christmas lights just like a person can't point a barcode scanner at graphing paper lines and get a product ID. And to be fair a very low resolution camera can detect the coded blinks very easily as it is an "on-off" code. You could utilize a 100x100 pixel sensor and still get the message from almost 30 feet away. Try doing that with a QR code or barcode and your current camera-phone.
In other words...google uses this and takes over the world?
2013 is awfully close to the 12, 21 2012 thing
damn u google
@versionII
your post time is similar too, i call anti-christ
Bah, too bad we wont get to use this what with it being after 2012. Lame
@wellmont
It is more complicated then you are making it out to be. You can't use IR because most cameras have IR-cut filters. If you do use on-off keying, you still have to ensure that the frame rate of the camera being used matches/is a multiple of the frequency of the data to be transferred which is not standard. Even if the clocks are the same, you have to worry that the frames are synced - if you are 50% out of phase, on and off will look the same. You also have to worry about the relative drift of the two clocks. And lastly the difficulty of identifying the single point light source amongst the background of the rest of the image to watch for the data stream.
@wellmont
It is more complicated then you are making it out to be. You can't use IR because most cameras have IR-cut filters. If you do use on-off keying, you still have to ensure that the frame rate of the camera being used matches/is a multiple of the frequency of the data to be transferred which is not standard. Even if the clocks are the same, you have to worry that the frames are synced - if you are 50% out of phase, on and off will look the same. You also have to worry about the relative drift of the two clocks. And lastly the difficulty of identifying the single point light source amongst the background of the rest of the image to watch for the data stream.
Pretty much every cellphone I've had has been able to capture infrared light, if this technology takes advantage of that then it seems like less of a stupid idea, if it doesn't those little blinking lights will get annoying fast. Even if it does though it's going to take a long time to transmit a reasonable amount of data, most cameras have a limit of 30fps, transmitting in binary at those speeds would be unbearable. For the tome, effort and money it would take to implement this technology it would be far more sensible to just use Bluetooth.
Sounds like infrared?
Maybe QR code hasn't caught on, because no one knows how to generate them, or what to use them for?
I propose adding these to business cards, so that you can scan and add the contact to your PIM, or go directly to your website.
These sound a lot like Bokodes.
http://web.media.mit.edu/~ankit/bokode/
-Taylor
Why would I want that on my phone? Isn't this the return of CueCat?
Oh, you mean like infrared communications like on laptops from the 90s?
Or like how remote controls have worked for decades?
Sounds like standard IRDA, I wonder if 20 year old phones are compatible, the ones that had IRDA before there was BT.
We'll see in 2013 I guess, haha
How will they put this on everyday items? Can it be laser engraved onto fruit? How to have it on your phone as an e-ticket for your flight? This technology is obsolete even before it was thought of, just like RFID it can't replace barcodes completely.
It's good to see someone try to keep innovating, but they're up against a competitor that isn't easily beaten, it takes more than a LED or an antenna.
What they seem to forget is that QR codes (and DataMatrix) are primarily used for print advertising. LED based coding would require an electronic display.
I expect in the USA to see 2D coding to take off in 2010. Right now it's primarily a Japanese thing.
I go out of my way to ignore and avoid adds, why would I want to use my phone to view them?
@(Unverified) Log out and back in to get your real nickname shown.
Anyway. good point that, but you can use it for other stuff than just showing you an add, you can for instance memorize URL's or phonenumbers with it, something you might not do so easily when seeing such with your eyes, or the address of a party or something, anything you want to take a note of.
Sounds good as long as I can CHOOSE which ads I want my phone to receive. Which would be very few of them.
Some friends and I are working on a side project which uses a piezo button to send a single packet wireless 'chirp' containing up to 160 bytes in a machine-readable string.
The idea is, maybe you're in the shower and your "automatic shower cleaner" has a "press here for more info" button. If you press the button, the link is broadcast to any machine that wants to hear it. Your desktop or your phone will automatically parse and look up the URL to show you more information.
Or, your vacuum cleaner jams up and you don't feel comfortable tearing it down to fix it, so instead you press the 'help' button right on the vacuum while you hold your phone in your hand. POP goes the online help resource.
You shouldn't have to point your device at the code. It should be that you interact with the code to get your information.
Likewise, you can do the same thing with products on store shelves to find out more about them or to look up recipes in a recipe book.
I hope we have a marketable product within six months.
@Dan Fruzzetti
Nice idea, but problem will be trying to convince phone manufacturers to add yet another device to the phone. The nice thing about scan codes is that a majority of phones already have cameras, and readers exist for almost every phone OS.
@Dan Fruzzetti I already have this working - Anytime my wife needs something, she screeches my name and sends a brief message. :D
@AwayBBL Actually, it uses the up-and-coming Bluetooth Broadcast Channel sub-protocol which will very soon become a part of the protocol. This way telephones will already support it. No cameras, no nothing. Just set your phone to listen.
@Dan Fruzzetti Thats good! Still will require handsets to add support for it, but easier than a dedicated listener. Some devices are weak in their bluetooth support for anything other than handsfree audio support.
Note to self: Determine where sensor is in next phone, either jump it or cover it with tape.
Kinda reminds me of the bluetooth hotspot ads. There was one in Vegas at a travelocity booth, except that no one could pair w/ it, due to a password the kiosk operator didn't have.
Sounds kind of interesting. Generally, I try to avoid ads, but on occasion, It would be nice to point the phone and grab a contact card and copy of the ad. Although a photo would do about the same thing, the data could be used to grab a more featured brochure, the website, or place an order.
A barcode scanner could do about the same as well, but the LED would be more useful as it would have a greater range and you wouldn't look like a tourist when you grab the data.