QR Code Demystified – Part 6

Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

QR Code Demystified Part 6

We’ve covered almost everything we need to create QR Codes. The next thing we need is version information blocks. The version information blocks simply tell the reader what version the symbol is, and therefore how many modules wide and tall it is.

Table 11 shows the top-right version of each version information block. Review Part 2 to see the positioning; in particular, remember to mirror these along the NW-SE axis to place them in the lower-left position.

Table 11 – Version information blocks

qr-version-markers

Another thing I want to include for convenience is the list of how many code words each version can hold. This can be inferred from previous information, but I’ll save you the trouble by putting it here. Table 12 indicates the total (data + error correction) code words for each symbol version. The number is the same for each error correction mode, the only difference is how many of them are for data and how many are error correction. Table 3 in Part 3 tells how many bits of data can be in each version/error correction pair, simply divide that by 8 to get the number of code words.

Table 12 – Total code words per version

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
26 44 70 100 134 172 196 242 292 346
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
404 466 532 581 655 733 815 901 991 1085
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
1156 1258 1364 1474 1588 1706 1828 1921 2051 2185
31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
2323 2465 2611 2761 2876 3034 3196 3362 3532 3706

The only thing left is the format information. Again, Part 2 explains where it goes, now we just need to know what to put there. The format information tells the reader two things – the error correction level, and the mask used. The format information is 15 bits in length. The first two bits represent the error correction level. L=01, M=00, Q=11, and H=10. The next 3 bits are the type of mask we used, as listed in Table 10 of Part 5. Finally, the last 10 bits contain a form of error correction. After that, a bit mask is applied to prevent it from being all zeroes. Table 13 shows the values for each combination of Error Correction and Mask. Now we place that according to the instructions in Part 2, and we have a complete QR code!

Table 13 – Format Information

ECC / Mask Format Information
00 000 101010000010010
00 001 101000100100101
00 010 101111001111100
00 011 101101101001011
00 100 100010111111001
00 101 100000011001110
00 110 100111110010111
00 111 100101010100000
01 000 111011111000100
01 001 111001011110011
01 010 111110110101010
01 011 111100010011101
01 100 110011000101111
01 101 110001100011000
01 110 110110001000001
01 111 110100101110110
10 000 001011010001001
10 001 001001110111110
10 010 001110011100111
10 011 001100111010000
10 100 000011101100010
10 101 000001001010101
10 110 000110100001100
10 111 000100000111011
11 000 011010101011111
11 001 011000001101000
11 010 011111100110001
11 011 011101000000110
11 100 010010010110100
11 101 010000110000011
11 110 010111011011010
11 111 010101111101101

Now here’s a sample of our QR Code generator. Soon we’re going to add a bunch of additional features, so you can customize your codes and use them for all kinds of marketing and entertainment purposes.

About Matcha Design

Matcha Design is a full-service creative B2B agency with decades of experience executing its client’s visions. The award-winning company specializes in web design, logo design, branding, marketing campaign, print, UX/UI, video production, commercial photography, advertising, and more. Matcha Design upholds the highest personal standards for excellence and can see things from a unique perspective due to its multicultural background.  The company consistently delivers custom, high-quality, innovative solutions to its clients using technical savvy and endless creativity. For more information, visit MatchaDesign.com.

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