HK1237495B - Method and device for processing, displaying and reading barcode - Google Patents

Description

A barcode processing, display, and reading method and device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of terminal technology, and in particular to a barcode processing, display, and reading method and device.

Background Art

The rapid expansion and development of the retail and consumer markets has also boosted the growth of China's barcode labeling business. Due to their significant advantages, such as speed, ease of use, and low cost, barcode labels are increasingly being used in a growing number of applications. However, the drawbacks of traditional barcodes are also evident: their low data capacity, supporting only 32 pure characters, makes it difficult to meet the growing demand for use cases. Currently, in more and more offline scenarios, barcodes on mobile phones are being used as payment vouchers, ticket receipts, coupons, admission tickets, membership credentials, and more. However, due to the limited data transmission capacity of barcodes, it is often difficult to transmit more information using barcodes.

Although QR codes provide a solution for inputting more data, up to thousands of characters, the equipment required to read QR codes is much more expensive than that required for one-dimensional codes, which is still a significant obstacle to their popularization.

Summary of the Invention

The embodiments of the present application provide a barcode processing, displaying, and reading method and apparatus to increase the amount of information transmitted by the barcode and resolve the application limitation problem caused by the amount of information transmitted by the barcode.

In one aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a barcode processing method, comprising:

Split the character string to be processed into multiple split character strings, each of which does not exceed a set length;

Generating header information for each of the plurality of segmented character strings, wherein the header information is used to represent sequence information of the segmented character strings;

A plurality of character strings to be displayed is generated according to the plurality of segmented character strings and their corresponding header information.

Accordingly, an embodiment of the present application provides a barcode processing device, comprising:

A segmentation module, used to segment the character string to be processed into multiple segmented character strings, wherein the segmented character strings do not exceed a set length;

a header information generating module, configured to generate header information for each of the plurality of segmented character strings, wherein the header information is used to represent sequence information of the segmented character strings;

The to-be-displayed character generation module is configured to generate a plurality of to-be-displayed character strings according to the plurality of segmented character strings and their corresponding header information.

In another aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a barcode display method, comprising:

Receive multiple strings to be displayed;

The barcodes generated from the plurality of character strings to be displayed are dynamically and sequentially displayed on the screen at a set frequency.

Accordingly, an embodiment of the present application provides a barcode display device, characterized by comprising:

A receiving module, used for receiving multiple character strings to be displayed;

The display module is used to dynamically and sequentially display the barcodes generated by the multiple character strings to be displayed on the screen at a set frequency.

In addition, the present invention also provides a barcode reading method, comprising:

Read multiple barcodes;

determining sequence information of the plurality of barcodes according to header information of the plurality of barcodes;

The message body information of the multiple barcodes is combined according to the sequence information of the multiple barcodes to determine the character strings carried by the multiple barcodes.

Accordingly, an embodiment of the present application provides a barcode reading device, comprising:

A barcode reading module, used for reading multiple barcodes;

a header information determination module, configured to determine sequence information of the plurality of barcodes based on the header information of the plurality of barcodes;

The combining module is configured to combine the message body information of the plurality of barcodes according to the sequence information of the plurality of barcodes to determine the character strings carried by the plurality of barcodes.

The beneficial effects are as follows:

This application provides a barcode processing method and apparatus that segments a character string to be processed into multiple segmented character strings, each of which does not exceed a set length; generates header information for each of the multiple segmented character strings, the header information being used to represent the sequence information of the segmented character strings; and generates multiple character strings to be displayed based on the multiple segmented character strings and their corresponding header information. This barcode processing solution can segment a long character string into short character strings, and provide the sequence information of each short character string within the long character string, thereby allowing the long character string to be transmitted without being restricted by its length.

This application also provides a barcode display method and apparatus that receives multiple character strings to be displayed and dynamically displays barcodes generated from the multiple character strings on a screen in sequence at a set frequency. This barcode display solution supports situations where the character string generation and barcode display devices are separate. The barcode display apparatus only needs to receive multiple character strings to be displayed and display the corresponding barcodes.

In addition, this application also provides a barcode reading method and device that reads multiple barcodes; determines the sequence information of the multiple barcodes based on the header information of the multiple barcodes; and combines the message body information of the multiple barcodes based on the sequence information of the multiple barcodes to determine the character strings carried by the multiple barcodes. This allows the information carried by multiple barcodes to be integrated and the content carried by the multiple barcodes to be determined, allowing long character strings to be transmitted without being restricted by their length.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The specific embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG1 is a schematic diagram showing a flow chart of a barcode processing method in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG2 is a schematic diagram showing a flow chart of a barcode reading method in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG3 shows a schematic flow chart of a barcode display method in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG4 shows a schematic flow chart of the barcode processing method in Example 1;

FIG5 shows a schematic flow chart of a barcode reading method in the second embodiment;

FIG6 shows a schematic structural diagram of a barcode processing device according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG7 shows another schematic structural diagram of the barcode processing device according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG8 shows a schematic structural diagram of a barcode reading device according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG9 shows a schematic structural diagram of a barcode display device according to an embodiment of the present application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

To make the technical solutions and advantages of this application more clearly understood, exemplary embodiments of this application are further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is apparent that the described embodiments are only a portion of the embodiments of this application, and are not exhaustive. Furthermore, the embodiments and features within these embodiments may be combined with one another unless there is a conflict.

During the development process, the inventors noted that barcodes offer advantages such as low cost and high penetration, but their data transmission capacity often limits their ability to transmit more information. The inventors sought to leverage the dynamic generation and refreshability of barcodes on smart devices like mobile phones, combined with corresponding encoding rules, to increase data transmission capacity. This solution, which allows for the reuse of barcode reading devices without additional costs, offers significant advantages for widespread adoption.

Based on this, the embodiments of the present application propose a barcode processing method and device, a barcode display method and device, and a barcode reading method and device, which are described in detail below.

FIG1 shows a barcode processing method in an embodiment of the present application, as shown in the figure, including:

Step 101: split the character string to be processed into multiple split character strings, and the split character strings do not exceed a set length;

Step 102: generating header information for each of the plurality of segmented character strings, wherein the header information is used to represent sequence information of the segmented character strings;

The sequence information may include the total number of the character strings in the group and the position information of the current character string in the group of character strings.

Step 103: Generate multiple character strings to be displayed according to the multiple segmented character strings and their corresponding header information.

Beneficial Effects: The barcode processing method of this application divides a character string to be processed into multiple split character strings, each of which does not exceed a set length; generates header information for each of the multiple split character strings, the header information being used to represent the sequence information of the split character strings; and generates multiple character strings to be displayed based on the multiple split character strings and their corresponding header information. This barcode processing solution can divide a long character string into short character strings and provide the sequence information of each short character string within the long character string, thereby allowing the long character string to be transmitted without being restricted by its length.

Furthermore, the barcode processing method of the embodiment of the present application, after generating a plurality of character strings to be displayed, further includes: generating barcodes from the plurality of character strings to be displayed and displaying them on the screen.

In the barcode processing solution of the present application, the function of processing a character string to be processed to generate multiple character strings to be displayed and the function of generating barcodes from the multiple character strings to be displayed and displaying them on the screen can be completed by different entities and are not limited to being completed by a single device. In the case where one device completes the process, the mobile terminal itself can complete both the operation of processing the character string to be processed to generate multiple character strings to be displayed and the operation of generating barcodes from the multiple character strings to be displayed and displaying them on the screen. In the case where two devices complete the process, the server can complete the operation of processing the character string to be processed to generate multiple character strings to be displayed, send the multiple character strings to be displayed to the mobile terminal, and then the mobile terminal can complete the operation of generating barcodes from the multiple character strings to be displayed and displaying them on the screen.

Furthermore, the barcode processing method of the embodiment of the present application, generating barcodes from the multiple character strings to be displayed and displaying them on the screen includes: dynamically and sequentially displaying the barcodes generated from the multiple character strings to be displayed on the screen at a set frequency.

This utilizes the dynamic refresh feature of the mobile terminal screen, allowing the mobile terminal to dynamically refresh multiple barcodes for reading by the reader without the user noticing. In specific implementations, multiple barcodes can also be displayed directly on the screen, with the reader reading them separately; or the user can manually switch between multiple barcode displays. This is not limited to dynamically displaying the barcodes generated by the multiple character strings to be displayed on the screen in sequence at a set frequency.

FIG2 shows a barcode reading method in an embodiment of the present application, which includes:

Step 201, reading multiple barcodes;

Step 202, determining sequence information of the plurality of barcodes based on header information of the plurality of barcodes;

Step 203: combining the message body information of the multiple barcodes according to the sequence information of the multiple barcodes to determine the character strings carried by the multiple barcodes.

In view of the above situation where the character string generation and the barcode display device are separated, the present application also provides a barcode display method, as shown in FIG3 , comprising the following steps:

Step 301, receiving multiple character strings to be displayed;

Step 302 : dynamically and sequentially displaying the barcodes generated from the plurality of character strings to be displayed on the screen at a set frequency.

In order to facilitate the implementation of this application, the following examples are provided for illustration.

Example 1:

The barcode processing method in the first embodiment is described by taking the case where the character string generation and the barcode display device are separated as an example, as shown in FIG4 , and includes:

Step 401: The server divides the character string to be processed into multiple split character strings, and the split character strings do not exceed a set length;

The split string does not exceed the set length in order to generate a barcode later and does not exceed the capacity of the barcode. In the most practical way currently, the maximum length is usually no more than 30 characters, and it is recommended to be no less than 16 characters.

Step 402: The server generates header information for each of the plurality of segmented character strings, where the header information is used to indicate sequence information of the segmented character strings.

The header information can be in the following two ways:

Method 1: The header information has a fixed length of 2 bits. For ease of explanation, the 2-bit header information is represented by "TX", where one digit X represents the position of the current string among the multiple strings to be displayed, and the other digit T represents the total number of the multiple strings to be displayed. Since barcodes have multiple code systems, some code systems only support pure numbers and do not support letters. The range of X and T is 1 to 9 (for code systems that do not support letters, the total is 9) or 1 to 9 + A to Z (9 numbers plus 26 letters, the total is 35). In this way, a maximum of 9 (for code systems that do not support letters) or 35 can be collected at a time, and a total of up to 30*9=270 or 30*35=1050 characters can be transmitted.

Method 2: The header information has a variable length. The first digit is 0, indicating that the header information has a variable length. The second digit is N, indicating that the length of the header information is (N*2+2), where N ranges from 2 to 9. The header information also includes an N-digit digit representing the position of the current string among the multiple strings to be displayed, and an N-digit digit representing the total number of strings to be displayed. For ease of explanation, the header information is represented by "0NTT...TXX...X", where "TT...T" is an N-digit digit representing the total number of strings to be displayed, and "XX...X" is an N-digit digit representing the position of the current string among the multiple strings to be displayed. The range of X and T is 1 to 9 (for code systems that do not support letters, the total number is 9) or 1 to 9 + A to Z (9 digits plus 26 letters, for a total of 35). By using a variable header information length, the number of barcodes in a set can be greatly expanded, thereby increasing the amount of information contained in a set.

Since in method 1, the first digit T ranges from 1 to 9 or 1 to 9 + A to Z and cannot be 0, the first digit of method 2 is 0, which is used to indicate that the length of the header information is variable, so that method 1 and method 2 can be used at the same time and the reading device can distinguish which method is used by whether the first digit is 0. Method 1 and method 2 can also be used separately.

Step 403: The server generates multiple character strings to be displayed based on the multiple segmented character strings and their corresponding header information.

Taking the fixed header information in method 1 in step 102 as an example, a specific example "43abcd..." can be generated, where "43" is the header, and the following "abcd..." represents the string content to be transmitted. The first digit T is 4, indicating that there are a total of 4 strings in this group, and the second digit X is 3, indicating that the current string is the third in the string sequence of this group.

Taking the variable-length header information in method 2 in step 102 as an example, a specific example "021508abcd..." can be generated, where "0" indicates that this is the second encoding method, and the following "2", namely "N", represents that the first two digits of the following 4 digits are the total number of "TT", and the last two digits are the "XX" sequence number, that is, "TT" is "15", indicating that there are a total of 15 character strings in this group, and "XX" is "08", indicating that the current character string is the 8th in the character string sequence of this group, and the following "abcd..." represents the character string content to be transmitted.

Step 404: The server sends the plurality of character strings to be displayed to the mobile terminal;

Step 405: The mobile terminal dynamically and sequentially displays the barcodes generated from the plurality of character strings to be displayed on the screen at a set frequency.

Example 2

The barcode reading method in the second embodiment, as shown in FIG5 , includes:

Step 501, sequentially reading a plurality of barcodes dynamically displayed on the screen at a set frequency;

Step 502, determining sequence information of the plurality of barcodes based on header information of the plurality of barcodes;

When reading the sequence information of multiple barcodes, the reading method may be determined according to which header information is specifically used in the first embodiment.

If only method 1 is adopted in embodiment 1, in this step, based on the first two digits of the multiple barcodes, one digit X representing the position of the current character string in the multiple character strings to be displayed and another digit T representing the total number of the multiple character strings to be displayed are obtained.

If only method 2 is used in embodiment 1 or both method 1 and method 2 are used in embodiment 1, in this step, based on the first digit of the plurality of barcodes being 0, it is determined that the length of the header information is variable; based on the second digit of the plurality of barcodes being N, the length of the header information is determined to be (N*2+2), where N ranges from 2 to 9;

Determine the position XX...X of the current character string in the multiple character strings to be displayed according to the N-bit number in the header information representing the position of the current character string in the multiple character strings to be displayed;

The total number TT . . . T of the plurality of character strings to be displayed is determined according to the N-bit number in the header information representing the total number of the plurality of character strings to be displayed.

Step 503: Combine the message body information of the multiple barcodes according to the sequence information of the multiple barcodes to determine the character strings carried by the multiple barcodes.

The following is an explanation using a specific example.

In this example, the string to be processed is:

"1234567890ABCDEFGHIJ1234567890ABCDEFGHIJ1234567890ABCDEFGHIJ1234567890"

The string to be processed has a total of 70 characters. In this example, the length is set to 30, and the string to be processed is split into three strings: 30+30+10:

Split string 1: "1234567890ABCDEFGHIJ1234567890"

Split string 2: "ABCDEFGHIJ1234567890ABCDEFGHIJ"

Split string 3: "1234567890"

Use method 1 to generate header information for the three split strings respectively:

The header information of split character string 1 is "31", the header information of split character string 2 is "32", and the header information of split character string 3 is "33".

Based on the three segmented character strings and their corresponding header information, multiple character strings to be displayed are generated as follows:

String 1 to be displayed: "311234567890ABCDEFGHIJ1234567890"

String 2 to be displayed: "32ABCDEFGHIJ1234567890ABCDEFGHIJ"

String 3 to be displayed: "331234567890"

The barcodes generated by the multiple character strings to be displayed are displayed on the screen in a dynamic and sequential manner at a set frequency. The reader reads the first digit as "3", which means that fixed header information is used, that is, there are three character strings in this group, numbered 1, 2, and 3 respectively. In this way, the barcode scanning device collects three consecutive barcode information and can parse it to restore it to the original character string "1234567890ABCDEFGHIJ1234567890ABCDEFGHIJ1234567890ABCDEFGHIJ1234567890;

If each barcode is displayed for 0.2-0.5 seconds, it now takes about 0.6-1.5 seconds to collect such a string.

The advantage of this encoding method is that even if the order of collection by the scanning device is not in the order of string segmentation (such as in the above example: when collecting from 2, it is: 3, 1, 2), the original string can be successfully restored after correction (sorting, deduplication, missing detection, etc.) based on the sequence number and total number of the header. The mobile phone only needs to update and display all the above strings in a fixed frequency cycle.

Based on the same inventive concept, a barcode processing device and a barcode reading device are also provided in the embodiments of the present application. Since the principles of solving problems by these devices are similar to those of a barcode processing method and a barcode reading method, the implementation of these devices can refer to the implementation of the method, and the repeated parts will not be repeated.

As shown in FIG6 , the barcode processing device of the embodiment of the present application may include:

A segmentation module 601 is used to segment a character string to be processed into a plurality of segmented character strings, wherein the segmented character strings do not exceed a set length;

A header information generating module 602 is configured to generate header information for each of the plurality of segmented character strings, wherein the header information is used to represent sequence information of the segmented character strings;

The to-be-displayed character generation module 603 is configured to generate a plurality of to-be-displayed character strings according to the plurality of segmented character strings and their corresponding header information.

Furthermore, the barcode processing device of the embodiment of the present application may also include a barcode processing module 702 as shown in FIG7 ,

The barcode processing module 702 is configured to generate barcodes from the plurality of character strings to be displayed, so as to display them on the screen 701 .

The screen 701 is used to display the barcode, and may be included in the barcode processing device of the embodiment of the present application, or may be outside the barcode processing device of the embodiment of the present application.

Furthermore, the barcode processing module 702 is further configured to output barcodes generated from a plurality of character strings to be displayed to the screen 701 in a set frequency order.

As shown in FIG8 , the barcode reading device in the embodiment of the present application includes:

The barcode reading module 801 is used to read multiple barcodes;

a header information determination module 802, configured to determine sequence information of the plurality of barcodes based on the header information of the plurality of barcodes;

The combining module 803 is configured to combine the message body information of the multiple barcodes according to the sequence information of the multiple barcodes to determine the character strings carried by the multiple barcodes.

As shown in FIG9 , the barcode display device in the embodiment of the present application includes:

Receiving module 901, used for receiving multiple character strings to be displayed;

The display module 902 is configured to dynamically and sequentially display the barcodes generated by the multiple character strings to be displayed received by the receiving module 901 on the screen at a set frequency.

For the convenience of description, the various parts of the above-mentioned device are divided into various modules or units according to their functions and described separately. Of course, when implementing this application, the functions of each module or unit can be implemented in the same or multiple software or hardware.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments of the present application can be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Therefore, the present application can adopt the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or an embodiment in combination with software and hardware. Moreover, the present application can adopt the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to magnetic disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) that contain computer-usable program code.

The present application is described with reference to the flow chart and/or block diagram of the method, device (system), and computer program product according to the embodiment of the present application. It should be understood that each flow process and/or box in the flow chart and/or block diagram and the combination of the flow process and/or box in the flow chart and/or block diagram can be realized by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processing machine or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device produce a device for realizing the function specified in one flow chart flow or multiple flows and/or one box or multiple boxes of the block diagram.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing device to operate in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce a product including an instruction device that implements the functions specified in one or more processes in the flowchart and/or one or more boxes in the block diagram.

These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device so that a series of operating steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, so that the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable device provide steps for implementing the functions specified in one or more processes in the flowchart and/or one or more boxes in the block diagram.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present application have been described, those skilled in the art may make additional changes and modifications to these embodiments once they have learned the basic creative concept. Therefore, the appended claims are intended to be interpreted as including the preferred embodiments and all changes and modifications that fall within the scope of the present application.

Claims (11)

1. A barcode processing method, characterized in that it includes: The string to be processed is split into multiple split strings, and the split strings do not exceed a set length; Header information is generated for each of the multiple segmentation strings, and the header information is used to represent the sequence information of the segmentation strings; Multiple strings to be displayed are generated based on the multiple segmentation strings and their corresponding header information; The header information has a variable length. The first digit is 0, indicating that the header information has a variable length. The second digit is N, indicating that the length of the header information is (N*2+2), where N ranges from 2 to 9. The header information also includes N digits indicating the position of the current string among the multiple strings to be displayed, and N digits indicating the total number of the multiple strings to be displayed. 2. The method as described in claim 1, wherein after generating a plurality of strings to be displayed, the method further comprises: generating barcodes from the plurality of strings to be displayed and displaying them on the screen. 3. The method as described in claim 2, wherein generating barcodes from the plurality of strings to be displayed and displaying them on the screen comprises: dynamically and sequentially displaying the barcodes generated from the plurality of strings to be displayed on the screen at a set frequency. 4. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the header information is 2 bits long, wherein one digit represents the position of the current string among the plurality of strings to be displayed, and the other digit represents the total number of the plurality of strings to be displayed. 5. A barcode reading method, characterized in that it includes: Read multiple barcodes; Based on the header information of the multiple barcodes, determine the sequence information of the multiple barcodes; Based on the sequence information of the multiple barcodes, the message body information of the multiple barcodes is combined to determine the string carried by the multiple barcodes; Determining the sequence information of the plurality of barcodes based on the header information of the plurality of barcodes includes: The length of the header information is determined to be variable based on the fact that the first digit of the plurality of barcodes is 0; Based on the fact that the second digit of the multiple barcodes is N, the length of the header information is determined to be (N*2+2), where N ranges from 2 to 9; The position of the current string among the multiple strings to be displayed is determined based on the N-bit numbers in the header information that represent the position of the current string among the multiple strings to be displayed. The total number of strings to be displayed is determined based on the N-bit number in the header information that represents the total number of the multiple strings to be displayed. 6. The method as described in claim 5, wherein reading the multiple barcodes includes sequentially reading the multiple barcodes dynamically displayed on the screen at a set frequency. 7. The method as described in claim 5, wherein determining the sequence information of the plurality of barcodes based on the header information of the plurality of barcodes includes: Based on the first two digits of the multiple barcodes, one digit represents the position of the current string among the multiple strings to be displayed, and the other digit represents the total number of the multiple strings to be displayed. 8. A barcode processing device, characterized in that it comprises: The segmentation module is used to split the string to be processed into multiple segmentation strings, wherein the segmentation strings do not exceed a set length; The header information generation module is used to generate header information for the multiple segmentation strings respectively, wherein the header information is used to represent the sequence information of the segmentation strings; The character to be displayed module is used to generate multiple strings to be displayed based on the multiple segmented strings and their corresponding header information; The header information has a variable length. The first digit is 0, indicating that the header information has a variable length. The second digit is N, indicating that the length of the header information is (N*2+2), where N ranges from 2 to 9. The header information also includes N digits indicating the position of the current string among the multiple strings to be displayed, and N digits indicating the total number of the multiple strings to be displayed. 9. The apparatus as described in claim 8, characterized in that it further comprises a barcode processing module. The barcode processing module is used to generate barcodes from the multiple strings to be displayed, so as to display them on the screen. 10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the barcode processing module is further configured to output the barcodes generated by the plurality of strings to be displayed to the screen in sequence at a set frequency. 11. A barcode reading device, characterized in that it comprises: A barcode reading module for reading multiple barcodes; The header information determination module is used to determine the sequence information of the plurality of barcodes based on the header information of the plurality of barcodes; The combination module is used to combine the message body information of the multiple barcodes according to the sequence information of the multiple barcodes to determine the string carried by the multiple barcodes; Determining the sequence information of the plurality of barcodes based on the header information of the plurality of barcodes includes: The length of the header information is determined to be variable based on the fact that the first digit of the plurality of barcodes is 0; Based on the fact that the second digit of the multiple barcodes is N, the length of the header information is determined to be (N*2+2), where N ranges from 2 to 9; The position of the current string among the multiple strings to be displayed is determined based on the N-bit numbers in the header information that represent the position of the current string among the multiple strings to be displayed. The total number of strings to be displayed is determined based on the N-bit number in the header information that represents the total number of the multiple strings to be displayed.