WO2005043454A1

WO2005043454A1 - Two-dimensional code transmitting method, system and mobile terminal

Info

Publication number: WO2005043454A1
Application number: PCT/JP2004/013423
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yusaku Morishita; Hirotaka Shimohara
Original assignee: Nec Mobiling, Ltd.
Priority date: 2003-10-30
Filing date: 2004-09-15
Publication date: 2005-05-12
Also published as: TW200524293A; JPWO2005043454A1; JP4063845B2

Abstract

When a two-dimensional code such as a QR code is transmitted from a server to a mobile terminal such as a mobile telephone, it is not transmitted as an image file but converted to character string data by calculating the image data of the two-dimensional code, whereby the character string data as converted is transmitted. The mobile terminal performs a reverse calculation to the calculation of the server to reconstruct the original two-dimensional code from the character string data. The reconstructed two-dimensional code is displayed on a display part of the mobile terminal, thereby allowing the two-dimensional code to be read by use of a two-dimensional code reader.

Description

Specification

Two-dimensional code transmission method, system and portable terminal

Technical field

The present invention relates to a two-dimensional code transmission method and system for displaying a two-dimensional code on a screen by a display unit of the portable terminal such as a portable telephone by communication, and such a transmission method The present invention relates to a portable terminal used for the purpose.

Background art

[0002] Conventionally, (one-dimensional) barcodes such as JAN code, ITF, and UCCZEAN 128 have been widely used in order to attach product code numbers and the like to products in machine-readable form. In the barcode, a large number of at least two types of bars with different thicknesses are arranged in one dimension, and the difference in light reflection between the tint block and the bar in the barcode is optically scanned by the barcode reader. By detecting the bar code, it is possible to obtain a digit string or a string corresponding to the barcode. However, ordinary barcodes can not represent so much information because they represent information based only on the arrangement of bars in one dimension. Therefore, by adding the concept of height in the vertical direction to the concept of length in the horizontal direction, and expressing information using both horizontal and vertical directions, more information can be stored in a small area 2 The dimension code has come to draw attention. According to the two-dimensional code, in terms of area efficiency, it is possible to store an amount of information of several tens times power several hundred times that of a one-dimensional barcode.

By the way, in recent years, various services using mobile phones have been provided. Among them, recent mobile phones have a function to connect to the Internet and download image data, and, for example, a bitmap display of 120 pixels (pixel) x 160 pixels, 240 pixels x 320 pixels, etc. Some have used having a relatively large display (display section) that can In such a service, for example, a coupon used for purchasing a product is distributed to a mobile phone capable of connecting to the Internet and displayed on the display of the mobile phone, and the user uses the coupon ticket. There are some that make it possible to receive a discount by presenting the displayed mobile phone. This In the service of, it is common to use the two-dimensional code mentioned above as a coupon. The user uses a mobile phone to access the server of the company that provides the service, downloads the coupon image data from the Sano to the mobile phone, and downloads it at the store trying to use the coupon. Display the coupon on the display of the mobile phone. Then, the bar code reader of the shop (or an optical reader for a two-dimensional code) causes the coupon, which is a two-dimensional code, to be read and interlocked with a POS (point of sales) register. You can receive a discount when purchasing a product. As an electronic coupon voucher providing system that electronically offers coupons, for example, there is one described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2003-248774.

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-248774

Disclosure of the invention

Problem that invention tries to solve

However, in the above-described electronic coupon voucher providing system using a two-dimensional code, a two-dimensional code is generated at the server of the company issuing the coupon, and the user passes through the Internet. Then, the server is accessed and the image data of the two-dimensional code is downloaded from the server to its own mobile phone.

[0005] In order to be able to visually recognize that what is displayed on the display of the mobile phone is a two-dimensional code, and to prevent a reading error when reading with a reader, for example, an area of 5 pixels × 5 pixels on the display Allocated to 1 dot (or 1 cell) in 2D code. Therefore, the image file downloaded to the mobile phone as a two-dimensional code has a certain data size. In the mobile phone service, charging is performed according to the amount of received data, and each time a two-dimensional code image file is downloaded, a certain amount of data is received. A burden arises. Of course, since the input algorithm and the code algorithm for generating the corresponding two-dimensional code are known, it is also considered to generate a two-dimensional code on the mobile phone side using the code algorithm. Be However, in the code-wise algorithm of two-dimensional code generation, it is also possible to generate input data into dot groups so that the reader can read properly. Calculation of error correction code such as cyclic redundancy code (CRC), etc., and executing such a code algorithm as an application program to be executed on a mobile phone is a point of calculation amount and program size. Well, not realistic.

[0006] In addition, even in the server of the company issuing the coupon, when the access from the mobile phone of the user increases, a considerable burden is placed on converting the generated two-dimensional code into an image file. It will take S. Therefore, even as a company that operates servers, it is necessary to increase the number of web servers for measures such as load distribution, and it is compelled to make equipment investment.

An object of the present invention is to reduce the amount of data to be transmitted without requiring excessive processing on the portable terminal when transmitting a two-dimensional code to a portable terminal such as a portable telephone. A method of transmitting a two-dimensional code, a transmission system, and a portable terminal. Means to solve the problem

The two-dimensional code transmission method of the present invention is a two-dimensional code transmission method for transmitting a two-dimensional code from a server to a portable terminal via a network, and in the server, character string data is calculated by two-dimensional code operation. , Transmitting the character string data from the server to the portable terminal, and converting the character string data into a two-dimensional code by inverse operation of the operation in the portable terminal.

The two-dimensional code transmission system of the present invention includes a server that transmits a two-dimensional code via a network, and the server generates two-dimensional code from information source data; And string generation operation means for generating string data from the dimensional code by an operation.

[0010] The portable terminal of the present invention displays a character string reverse operation means for restoring received character string data to a two-dimensional code by reverse operation, a display means, and the two-dimensional code restored on the display means. And display processing means

In the present invention, instead of transmitting the two-dimensional code as an image file from the server side, the image data of the two-dimensional code is converted into character string data by calculation, and the character string data is transmitted. On the side of the portable terminal that receives the data, the original image data is restored to a two-dimensional code by performing the reverse operation of the operation on the server side. 2D code restored, mobile end It can be displayed on the last display unit and read by a two-dimensional code reader. According to the present invention, the amount of transmission data can be significantly reduced compared to the conventional transmission of image data. Therefore, if the user who receives data uses an Internet-connected portable terminal that is charged according to the amount of data to be received, the charge can be reduced. Even on the side of distributing the two-dimensional code, the load on the server is reduced. Brief description of the drawings

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a two-dimensional code transmission system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[FIG. 2A] FIG. 2A is a flowchart explaining processing on the server side in the system of FIG.

[FIG. 2B] FIG. 2B is a flowchart for explaining the processing on the portable terminal side in the system of FIG.

[FIG. 3] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a two-dimensional code.

[FIG. 4A] FIG. 4A is a flowchart showing a process of generating two-dimensional code power character string data.

[FIG. 4B] FIG. 4B is a diagram showing a transmission template.

[Fig. 5] Fig. 5 is a flowchart showing the process of restoring character string data to a two-dimensional code.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

A two-dimensional code transmission system according to an embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 is a server on the enterprise side that issues a two-dimensional code such as a coupon, and a mobile phone such as a portable telephone to which the two-dimensional code is distributed. It is composed of a terminal 8 and the like. The server and the portable terminal 8 are connected via the Internet 6 and a cellular phone network 7. The Internet 6 includes a general network including a public line and a dedicated line, and the Internet 6 and the mobile telephone network 7 are mutually connected via a gateway (not shown). Mobile terminal 8 can now connect to the Internet 6!

In this system, when transmitting a two-dimensional code to the portable terminal 8 from the server side, it is better to send a two-dimensional code rather than transmitting an image file in which the two-dimensional code is treated as image data. In addition, it is calculated by a simple operation and can be easily restored by inverse operation to transmit character string data that can be restored to a two-dimensional code. In the example to be described later, the character string data is also composed of a total of 17 kinds of character strengths, which are numbers from 0 to 9, "," (comma), and letters from A to F.

In the server, an information source database 1 storing coupon data and the like, and input data are converted into a two-dimensional code, and the two-dimensional code is further converted into character string data for transmission 2 A dimensional code processing server 2 and a web server 5 connected to the Internet 6 to receive web access from the portable terminal 8 are provided. The two-dimensional code server 2 functions as a back end server of the web server 5 and generates two-dimensional code corresponding to the input data using the data acquired from the information source database 1 as the input data A section 3 and a character string generation operation section 4 for converting the generated two-dimensional code into character string data according to a procedure described later are provided.

A portable terminal 8 has a wireless signal receiving unit 9 for receiving a wireless signal from the portable telephone network 7 and a signal that demodulates the received wireless signal to a baseband and the computer program in the portable terminal 8 can be analyzed. To the baseband processing unit 10 for converting data into character strings, a character string reverse operation unit 11 for restoring the character string data downloaded from the web server 5 input via the baseband processing unit 10 into the original two-dimensional code, a liquid crystal display panel And a two-dimensional code image display processing unit 12 that causes the display unit 13 to display the restored two-dimensional code. Although not shown here, the portable terminal 8 is also provided with a keypad for inputting a telephone number and an address on the Internet.

Next, a procedure for transmitting a two-dimensional code to the mobile terminal 8 also in the server side in this system will be described.

Currently, QR codes, Maxi codes (Maxi Codes), data matrices (DataMatrix), etc. exist as representative types of two-dimensional codes. In the following description, two-dimensional codes are used. It is assumed that a QR code is used. The QR code is defined in Japanese Standard Standard (JIS) X 0510 and ISO ZIEC 18004 which is an ISO standard equivalent to this. Of course, the present invention is preferably applicable even when using a two-dimensional code other than the QR code. First, processing on the server side will be described using FIG. 2A.

The two-dimensional code processing server 2 receives information such as coupons stored in the information source database 1 as input data, and in step 201, the two-dimensional code generation unit 3 converts the input data into a two-dimensional code. Convert to a certain QR code. Thereafter, in step 202, the character string generation operation unit 4 of the two-dimensional code processing server 2 converts the generated QR code into character string data. The details of conversion to character string data will be described later, but simply speaking, the two-dimensional code regards the dot sequence as a bit string for each row, regards the bit string as a character code for each appropriate number of bits, and the corresponding character By selecting and combining the characters so selected, string data is generated. Thereafter, information such as coupons converted into character string data is stored in the web server 5.

If web access from portable terminal 8 is accepted by web server 5 via cellular phone network 7 and the Internet 6 and there is a download request from portable terminal 8 in step 203, web server 5 receives In step 204, string data corresponding to the requested information is transmitted to the portable terminal 8. This string data arrives at the portable terminal 8 via the Internet 6 and the cellular phone network 7.

Next, processing in the portable terminal 8 will be described using FIG. 2B.

When the portable terminal 8 issues a download request to the web server 5 in step 205 and receives the transmission OK from the web server 5 in step 206, the portable terminal 8 receives the OK via the internet 6 and the cellular phone network 7 in step 207. Receive character string data. In the mobile phone network 7, an information signal such as character string data is once transmitted as a radio signal for the mobile phone, but when it is received by the mobile terminal 8, the wireless signal receiving unit 9 and An information signal that can be processed in the portable terminal 8, ie, character string data, is demodulated via the baseband processing unit 10. The received character string data is restored from the character string data to the QR code in the character string reverse operation unit 11 in step 208. In step 209, the restored QR code is displayed on the display unit 13 by the two-dimensional code image display processing unit 12.

[0023] << Creation of Character String Data of Two-Dimensional Code >>

Next, processing for converting a two-dimensional code into character string data in the present embodiment will be described. Ru.

[0024] The QR code is a square two-dimensional code formed by arranging the same number of dots in the vertical and horizontal directions as small square areas, and each dot has a binary color (for example, black and blank (white)). The information is stored by appending The dot is also called a cell. The version of the QR code is determined by how many dots each side is configured. The smallest QR code is 21 dots x 21 dots in size, and then by adding 4 dots on each side, up to 177 dots x 177 dots in size are determined.

[0025] The number of characters that can be stored in the QR code is 7, 089 at most for numbers only, 4, 296 for English letters and numbers, at most symbols, 2, 953 for binary (8 bits), vague It is a maximum of 1,817 characters in Japanese characters.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the QR code. The illustrated QR code 300 is a square of 25 dots vertically and 25 dots horizontally, and is about 80% the size of the entire screen of the liquid crystal display panel of a recent common mobile phone. When displayed with, the 2D code reader has the appropriate number of dots to read. In FIG. 3, the one shown in the upper left shows the QR code actually displayed or printed, and the enlarged force of such a QR code is also shown in the lower right. In the enlarged view, vertical and horizontal thin lines are described to explain the position and content of each dot. The actual QR code does not contain such thin lines.

When the QR code to be displayed on the display unit 13 of the portable terminal 8 is transmitted from the server to the portable terminal 8, the calculation conventionally described as image file data will be described in the present embodiment. It is converted to string data by the method and sent. The operation method for converting a two-dimensional code into character string data will be described in detail below using FIG. 3, FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B. Here, it is assumed that the two-dimensional code is a QR code 300 of 25 dots × 25 dots having the pattern shown in FIG.

When the QR code 300 as shown in FIG. 3 is received, the character string generation operation unit 2 of the two-dimensional code processing server 2 receives the top row 301 of the QR code 300, that is, the top row shown in step 401. In the above, from the left end of the line, dots that are black are sequentially recognized as “1”, dots that are blank (white) are recognized as “0”, and a bit string consisting of “1” and “0” Generate Ru. At the top of the illustrated QR code 300, from the left,

Γ 里里里 ^ ^ ^ [^ 里里里」」]

And the dots are lined up, so the resulting bit string is 25 bits long,

"1111111010101100101111111"

It becomes. Next, when the processing of the second stage 302 is entered and the bit string is similarly generated,

"1000001011000000100010001"

It becomes. In step 402, it is confirmed whether or not it is the final stage, and if it is not the final stage, the process is repeated in step 401, thereby generating a bit string for each row up to the final stage 304. By arranging the bit strings of each row generated in this manner in the column direction, it is possible to treat the black dot portion and the blank dot portion in the two-dimensional code as a analyzed matrix.

[0029] When the generation of the bit string of the final stage 304 is finished, next, in step 403, the bit string (25 bits in length each) of each row consisting of "0" to '1' generated in step 401-402. For the left column, divide by 4 bits from the left, add 3 bits of "0" at the end, and generate a 28 bit string for each row of QR code 300. For example, for the first stage,

"1111 1110 1010 1100 1011 1111 1000"

The following bit string is obtained. Then, this bit string is expressed in binary notation. When this is converted to hexadecimal notation in step 404,

"1111 1110 1010 1100 1011 1111 1000" force too

It becomes "F E A C B F 8", and one row of character string data is generated.

[0030] In step 405, it is confirmed whether or not it is the final stage, and if it is not the final stage, the processing of steps 403 to 404 is repeated. Then, when the process of converting the dots of each line in the QR code into character string data is completed to the final stage, the character string generation operation unit 4 makes data for transmission to be stored in the web server 5 in step 406. Apply the generated string data of each line to the transmission template shown in Fig. 4B.

Applying the first stage data to the transmission template shown in FIG. 4B,

"25, 25, FEACBF882C4208J

It becomes. In step 407, check if it is the final stage and if it is not the final stage The process of step 406 is repeated. In this way, the process applied to the transmission template is performed from the top stage 301 to the final stage 304, and when the process is completed, the QR code 300 is converted into the final transmission character string data, and the transmission is performed. The string data of the credit is stored in the web server 5 at step 408. At this point, the processing in the character string generation and operation unit 4 is completed.

When the QR code shown in FIG. 3 is converted into string data as described above, the final string data for transmission is

"25, 25, FEACBF 882 C 4 208 BAC 72 E 8 BA 7 E 2 E 8 BAC 02 E 88 25 E 208 FE

BAE16B8BA2B7988240B38FEEEA48J

It becomes. The transmission character string data is obviously composed of 17 kinds of character strengths, which are a total of numerals of 0 to 9, "," and letters of A to F. Also, assuming that each character is represented by one byte, the data volume of the entire character string data is 2+ 1 + 2 + 1 + (7 X 25) = 531 bytes.

On the other hand, when the QR code 300 shown in FIG. 3 is transmitted as an image file so as to be displayed in an appropriate size on the display unit 13 of the mobile terminal 8, the image file format is used. When the GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) format, which is commonly used, is used, the amount of data is about 1050 bytes. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the amount of data transmitted from the Sano to the portable terminal 8 can be approximately 50% as compared to the case of transmitting the image file.

<< Process on Mobile Terminal Side >>

When the character string data generated as described above is received, the portable terminal 8 generates the original QR code matrix by performing the reverse operation of the above processing, and the obtained QR code is displayed on the display unit 13. Display the screen. Hereinafter, processing in the portable terminal 8 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

When the character string reverse operation unit 11 of the portable terminal 8 receives the character string data sent from the web server 5 in step 501, in step 502, the character string data is analyzed. Do. In the example of the present embodiment, since it is a QR code of 25 dots vertically and 25 dots horizontally, the size of the portrait is recognized first, and then data of a portion corresponding to the QR code is extracted. Since the number of dots in vertical and horizontal directions is stored at the beginning of the character string code, as described above, the QR code detects the number of dots (cells) on each side. By doing this, it is possible to recognize the horizontal size, that is, the number of dots.

Since the extracted data is a hexadecimal number represented by the characters (“0—” 9 ”,“ A ”—” F ”), in step 503, the character string reverse operation unit 11 Convert this extracted data into binary code. The number of dots in one line of the QR code indicates how many characters the character string data equivalent to one line in the QR code consists of, so each line in the QR code contains character string data. Convert to binary code. In step 504, it is determined whether or not the process from the top to the last stage in this process iS QR code is repeated, and if the process is finished up to the final stage, the process proceeds to step 505, and each bit converted to binary code Column power also generates 25 bits of bit string data by removing the last 3 bits. This process is performed for each line of the QR code, and it is checked in step 506 whether the process has been performed to the final stage.

[0037] When bit string data corresponding to each row of the QR code is available, next, in step 507, the two-dimensional code display processing unit 12 black dots "1" in the bit string and blanks "0" (white) dots. In step 508, the image is displayed on the display unit 13 as a QR code.

[0038] In this way, the two-dimensional code such as the QR code generated by the two-dimensional code generation unit 3 on the server side is displayed on the display unit 13 of the portable terminal 8. The two-dimensional code is read by a two-dimensional code reader, such as by holding it in front of the. When the two-dimensional code represents a coupon, the server side transmits information on the coupon to the POS register by being read by, for example, a two-dimensional code reader connected to the POS register. As a result, users can receive discounts when purchasing products.

In the above description, a relatively small QR code such as 25 dots vertically and 25 dots horizontally is used as an example, but according to the present invention, in the case of a larger QR code, the image is an image. The rate of reduction of data is higher than when data is transmitted, and thus higher effects can be obtained.

Thus, the present invention provides a method of transmitting a two-dimensional code that is optimal for the user as well as for a corporate server that issues coupons and the like as a two-dimensional code.

In the two-dimensional code transmission system described above based on the present invention, the server can also be realized by causing a general-purpose computer to read a computer program for realizing it and executing the program. . A program for realizing the server is read into a computer by a recording medium such as a magnetic tape or a CD-ROM or through a network.

Similarly, a portable terminal 8 according to the present invention loads a program for executing the above-described processing into a general-purpose portable computer or PDA (personal digital assistant) having a function of connecting to a cellular phone network. Can be realized by running the program.

When a mobile phone having an Internet connection function is used as the mobile terminal 8, the CPU, operating system (OS) used for each mobile phone model, and the hardware configuration for display are different. Is common. Therefore, an application program for executing from reception of character string data to display of a two-dimensional code is created in a programming language such as Java (registered trademark), which does not depend on the platform of the mobile phone or the mobile terminal. Is preferred. In recent mobile phones, an environment in which Java (registered trademark) applications can be executed regardless of the model, and so a program for executing the above-described processing can be described using such a programming language. Then, the two-dimensional code can be transmitted and displayed on the display unit by the method of the present embodiment, overcoming the difference in model.

[0044] As described above, the program mounted on the portable terminal can reduce the program size because the operation of restoring the character string data to the two-dimensional code is a relatively simple algorithm. It can be written in a programming language that does not depend on the OS and platform of the software of the mobile terminal body. Therefore, the present invention has the advantage of showing high versatility and reducing the load on the CPU of the portable terminal in processing. Have points.

Claims

The scope of the claims

[1] A two-dimensional code transmission method for transmitting a two-dimensional code from a Sano to a mobile terminal via a network, comprising:

Generating string data from the two-dimensional code by an operation at the server;

Transmitting the character string data from the server to the portable terminal; converting the character string data into the two-dimensional code by the inverse operation of the operation in the portable terminal;

A two-dimensional code transmission method having

[2] The two-dimensional code is a set of dots each representing either a first value or a second value,

The operation is an operation of treating the two-dimensional code as a matrix consisting of the portion of the first value and the portion of the second value, and generating the character string data based on the matrix. The method described in.

[3] The method according to claim 2, wherein in the two-dimensional code, the first value is represented by a black dot, and the second value is represented by a blank dot.

[4] The method according to claim 1, further comprising displaying the restored two-dimensional code on a display unit of the portable terminal.

[5] The method according to claim 2, wherein the two-dimensional code is a QR code.

[6] The two-dimensional code is a set of dots each representing either a first value or a second value,

The operation includes the steps of generating a bit string corresponding to the value of the dot for each line of the two-dimensional code, generating a character string based on the generated bit string, and all of the two-dimensional code. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of: concatenating the strings for a line of <c> to generate the string data.

[7] The method according to claim 6, wherein the two-dimensional code is a QR code.

[8] It has a server that transmits two-dimensional code via a network,

The server generates a two-dimensional code from information source data. A two-dimensional code transmission system, comprising: a stage; and character string generation operation means for generating character string data from the two-dimensional code by an operation.

[9] A portable terminal that receives the two-dimensional code via the network, and the portable terminal restores the received character string data into the two-dimensional code by the inverse operation of the operation. The system according to claim 8, further comprising: calculating means, display means, and display processing means for displaying the restored two-dimensional code on the display means.

[10] The two-dimensional code is a set of dots each representing either a first value or a second value,

The character string generation operation means generates a bit string corresponding to the value of the dot for each line of the two-dimensional code, generates a character string based on the generated bit string, and generates all lines of the two-dimensional code. The system of claim 8, wherein the string data is generated by concatenating the strings of.

[11] A portable terminal that receives the two-dimensional code via the network, and the portable terminal restores the received character string data to the two-dimensional code by the inverse operation of the operation. 11. The two-dimensional code transmission system according to claim 10, comprising: calculation means, display means, and display processing means for displaying the restored two-dimensional code on the display means.

[12] Character string reverse operation means for restoring received character string data into the two-dimensional code by reverse operation;

Display means,

And a display processing means for displaying the restored two-dimensional code on the display means.

[13] The two-dimensional code is a set of dots each representing either a first value or a second value,

The reverse operation generates a bit string corresponding to the value of the dot for each row of the two-dimensional code, and generates a character string based on the generated bit string, and the characters for all the rows of the two-dimensional code are generated. It is the inverse operation of the operation which concatenates the columns and generates the character string data The mobile terminal according to claim 12.

[14] A program executed on a portable terminal having a display unit,

Food U mobile terminal,

Character string inverse operation means for restoring received character string data to a two-dimensional code by inverse operation,

A program written in a program language, functioning as display processing means for displaying the restored two-dimensional code on the display unit, and not dependent on the platform of the portable terminal.

[15] The two-dimensional code is a set of dots each representing either a first value or a second value,

The reverse operation generates a bit string corresponding to the value of the dot for each row of the two-dimensional code, and generates a character string based on the generated bit string, and the characters for all the rows of the two-dimensional code are generated. The program according to claim 14, which is an inverse operation of an operation of concatenating columns to generate the character string data.