QR Based PM Code - The Best 3D Symbology Ever, Really!

Normal PM Code with data memory capability uses 8-24 colors. Memory ranges from about 0.6MB~1.8MB (4,083,264 figures). Image Credit: C.I.A.

QR Based PM Code - The Best 3D Symbology Ever, Really!

And it is a 5th Generation Media symbology known as the PM Code. With this printed symbology one can use a simple cellphone with a camera and unleash incredible variants of communication ranging from simple data, to sound, to video … all at the snap of a camera button on the phone.

In the worlds of automatic identification and information technology, the question of what is the best machine-readable information-packed symbology ever has been answered ... Again!

Why?

Well, until someone comes up with a device readable code that can hold about 1.236 GB of information (2,854,408,421,376 figures) - Deliver as much information from a printed media symbology (code) to have a phone with the corresponding decode program and a camera play a low-resolution video with sound for approximately 20 seconds, or have the phone reach out automatically to entertainer, advertiser, and manufacturer websites to retrieve additional database stored information via Internet Protocol … then one can dispute this claim!!!

IP (Internet Protocol) based PM Code uses 256 colors. Memory ranges to about 1,236GB (2,854,408,421,376 figures). Image Credit: C.I.A.

The best symbology ever?

The best symbology ever may well be the PM Code (PM = Paper Memory), developed by a relatively new Japanese start-up company known as Content Idea of Asia Co., Ltd. (C.I.A.), The algorithm basis comes from the DENSO Wave - developed QR Code – originally intended for use in tracking and aiding the complex task of automobile parts manufacturing and sourcing throughout the automobile assembly process.
CL Code with data memory capability. Memory ranges from about 72KB (170,136 figures). Image Credit: C.I.A.

C.I.A. also has developed a “sister” code known as the CL Code (CL = Clear Code) which describes the effect of being able to add a code that does not need to be dark contrast against a light background to be decoded. This allows the information reference code to be laid on top of media in a transparent, layered look - in order to not take away from the printed media onto which it is applied.

Simple CL Code application in tomato photo. Image Credit: C.I.A.

The advantages of using the CL Code is that the customer’s viewing of marketing designs and images will not be hampered due to the application of an identifying Physical World Hyperlink or Physical World Identifier/Connection for the customer to use when getting additional information. One technique suggests that the CL Code may be printed in a band of matching product colored ink on the bottle. The information would not be able to be decoded until the contents of the bottle have been consumed or poured out … thus leaving the CL Code in a readable format.

Content Idea of Asia Co., Ltd. Explains the concept this way. Both the CL Code and its more robust “sister” PM Code are examples of 5th Generation Media.

What does this "5th Generation Media mean? Well,

1st Generation Media refers to paper media such as magazines, newspapers, and other printed media stratum.

2nd Generation Media refers to audio radio communication.

3rd Generation Media refers to television, video, and film media communications.

4th Generation Media refers to Information Technologies (IT) found in the digital world of computers and cellular telephones.

So now we come full circle and fuse the previous forms of communication together.

5th Generation Media allows the fusion of all forms of media to interact and cooperate, in order to take the advantage of each form to deliver a more effective level of communication through the application of this unique database found in a 3D (three-dimensional) color QR based code. A simple cellphone with a camera can unleash incredible variants of communication ranging from simple data, to sound, to video - YES VIDEO! … all at the snap of a camera button on the phone.

No IP address – just the PM Code and the “old media” adverts come to life! Applications include listening to portions of songs, videos, short how-to-use vignettes, security for access control, save, re-write, and store data media on flat format paper (instead of CD’s, DVD’s, or HD discs), and well, the sky is the limit.

Hey, how’s this - you are a curator of a museum and you would like the patrons to enjoy the exhibit a little more deeply with sound descriptions of what they are seeing. Place PM Codes next to each display and voila, the patron can hear all they wanted to know about the painting and the painter - complete with a video snippet on the painter’s technique. All of this interactive information without involving the audio/visual department and/or the equipment investment.

Next up?

The addition of smell - Okay, so this may be a little overboard ... but you get the idea!

HT: Content Idea of ASIA co., Ltd.

3D Barcode - Auto ID "CUBED"

It's only a matter of time before the world around you is painted with ColorCodes. Wherever you go, wherever you look -- TV, magazines, store shelves, shopping bags, billboards, web banners, T-shirts and more -- you'll see ColorZip in action. Image Credit: ColorZip Japan, Inc.

3D Barcode - Auto ID "CUBED"

That's digital 2D code "X" axis, "Y" axis, and Color!

To the power of three ... that's what I say! What could be more powerful than a code that incorporates color as one of it's discernments? After all, this is a color world.

QR Code (a registered trademark of DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED) breaks out of it's shell through the introduction of a new automatic identification symbology variant - the ColorCode (ColorCode and ColorZip are registered trademarks of ColorZip Media Inc.).

ColorCode is the name of the first ever "3D Barcode" utilized by a server-based content delivery system known as ColorZip.

At the moment, ColorCode is a closed and managed source code symbology designed for use by Brand Managers and Marketing Communication professionals through ColorZip Media - a flexible, real-time, interactive content management system that provides up-to-the-minute CRM data to the consumer.

So, with the ColorZip system, all a consumer needs to do is point a CCD or CMOS camera (with a minimum 100,000-pixel resolution) at TV screens, print ads, magazines, POP displays, outdoor boards, electronic screens, product packages, web banners, T-shirts, and etc. containing a ColorCode, and decoded information sends the consumer's computer or phone to a web server that, in turn, delivers digital information to the consumer that he can use to be informed or make a decision.

ColorZip Japan now announces [ColorZip Certified Program] to give certificate to our trusted partners and their products. The program is set to find creative design or hardware companies who can cooperate with us to make the ColorCode designs or improve hardware. After thoroughly evaluating creativity, robustness of their product and technology, ColorZip's Partnership is certified and official logo is provided. With the ColorCode, you can appeal your reliability and expand business chances. Image Credit: ColorZip Japan, Inc.

Imagine the possibilities of reaching out to consumers on-the-fly when ColorCodes can be read quickly and easily from a 15 foot distance by mobile phones, Cell PDAs, PCs, and other devices equipped with cameras. Say good-bye to exclusively communicating through one-dimensional print display methodologies.

Excerpts from ColorZip Japan, inc. website -

There's a colorful new world to be explored.

Point your mobile phone at a model in a magazine ad and zip you're visiting her website.

Point your Cell PDA at a music video on TV and zip you've got a sample of the hit single.

Point your cell phone at your favorite team's logo and zip you know the score.
That's the power of ColorZip.

ColorZip works with mobile phones, PC cameras, and other imaging devices that read ColorCodes. Let's say you see a poster for a movie you're interested in. Point your mobile phone at it. The camera in your phone reads a ColorCode printed on the poster. The ColorCode contains information provided by a server. The server then sends data to your phone in the form of content, perhaps a movie trailer. Best of all, it happens instantly, in a zip.

The ColorCode was exhibited at the AUTO-ID EXPO by SATO (printers) held at TOKYO BIG SIGHT. The flower motif ColorCode is for use on flower tags at a florist or nursery. Image Credit: ColorZip Japan, Inc.

Every picture tells a story.

ColorZip also makes watching TV an interactive experience. Suppose you see a product you like on a TV show or commercial. Point your mobile phone at the screen and zip, you can order the product. Perhaps you're watching a TV quiz show. With ColorZip you could play along from home, "answering questions" with your phone and instantly winning prizes.

There are more than 17 billion color patterns available in a 3 mm square code, and in larger codes the possibilities are infinite. Codes can be created in wide variety of shapes, sizes and colors and printed on paper, fabric, glass and other materials. They can appear as corporate and brand logos, designer labels, photos, and virtually anything you can imagine.

It's only a matter of time before the world around you is painted with ColorCodes. Wherever you go, wherever you look -- TV, magazines, store shelves, shopping bags, billboards, web banners, T-shirts and more -- you'll see ColorZip in action.
All you need to do is zip.
Reference Here>>



ColorCodes from Origin through Mobile Site have been designed by the Sankei Co Ltd.'s desingners. The design represents their corporate profile and philosophy. Image(s) Credit: ColorZip Japan, Inc.

Excerpts from Newsweek International via MSNBC early this year-

Using Color Codes To Browse the Web
By Christian Caryl (with B. J. Lee in Seoul) - Newsweek International - Jan. 16, 2006 issue

It's an advertiser's dream. Imagine you're sitting in your favorite cafe when something in the business pages catches your eye. That company you're reading about sounds intriguing. So you take out your mobile phone and focus the camera lens on a small splotch of color embedded in the corner of the article. Suddenly the phone's screen is displaying real-time stock prices and up-to-the-minute company headlines.

It's become a truism that the Internet is transforming the way businesses reach their customers. But among advertisers there's a nagging sense that the online world is still too disconnected from more traditional media, like print. For most users, gaining access to the Internet still means sitting in front of a computer and hammering away at a keyboard - a setup far removed from the experience of reading the morning paper or thumbing through a magazine. Advertisers would instead like to give print readers immediate access to the full range of Web-based information. Colorzip Media, a South Korea-based company, is one of the numerous small firms hoping to bridge this divide.

Colorzip's idea is to build on the pros of bar codes while shedding the cons. The intricate structure of bar codes makes them hard to read; scanners have to be close and precise. And if anything else gets in the way - an ad, for example - the scanner can't cope.

A few years ago Korean computer scientists came up with a new kind of code based on color patterns, which can be easily incorporated into company logos or other graphic designs. Colors are much easier for scanners to read, and they help users home in on the content. Colorzip codes have the added advantage of simplicity.

The design highlights the Skype logo and uses plenty of Skype light blue within the ColorCode. Image Credit: ColorZip Japan, Inc.

Unlike a data-heavy bar code, all a Colorzip code communicates when it's scanned is an index, a pathway to content stored on a server. That links the reading device to the desired content which then pops up on the screen.

Even better, the colors can be read at relatively long distances - say, half a meter away and at poor resolutions. Colorzip codes have already been used on TVs, for example, with viewers voting to express their preferences for the outcome of a show. You focus your phone's camera on a splotch of color in the corner of the screen and press the button; you then find yourself at a Web site.

"We're able to put content onto the code to make it attractive," says Christopher Craney, CEO of Colorzip's Japan subsidiary.
----
But who goes to the trouble of carrying around a scanner? The answer: 60 percent of mobile-phone users in South Korea and Japan. Their phones come with Quick Response readers, based on a code [a 2D code - QR Code invented by DENSO WAVE CORPORATION] that's somewhere between bar codes and the version proposed by Colorzip. With some software from Colorzip, users can zap everything from specially made Colorzip postage stamps issued by the postal service to T shirts or caps marked with jazzy graphics, and be directed to a Web site.

The technology has a drawback. Because the codes can be photographed or copied, they might be susceptible to hacking.
----
But the color codes may presage a day when the combination of user-friendly codes and the Google-sifted Net universe opens up myriad possibilities.
Read All>>

Check out the most powerful 3D/Auto ID "Cubed" code designed to date>>