Detection of printed codes with a camera phone

The scope of a research project at VTT Information Technology was to investigate new printed coding methods such as two-dimensional bar codes and their applications. It was found that the camera phones are suitable for detecting even very small printed two-dimensional bar codes, but add-on lenses are needed. It is, however, expected that camera phones will have higher resolution and better lenses in a few years time which will result in detecting smaller cells and more characters in one symbol. Camera phones can also be used for detecting colours for purposes such as food quality indication, but for reliable detection better CCD cells or colour calibration is needed