What is QR Code and How Does It Work: Components and Working Mechanisms

A QR code is a barcode that you can read with the help of a digital device. It stores data in a square-shaped grid in the form of a series of pixels. By scanning the QR code, you can access multiple types of information. Unlike standard barcodes, which you can read in one direction, QR codes can be read in two directions, enabling them to store more data.

But the question remains – 'how does a QR code work?' If you want to know the answer, keep reading this piece as it highlights its components, working mechanism and other essential details you should be aware of.

The patterns in the QR code are binary codes that are interpreted to show the code's data. A QR reader can recognise a standard QR code. This is based on three large squares placed outside the code. Once it recognises the three squares, it understands that they contain the QR code.

Then, the QR reader analyses the code by breaking it down into a grid. It goes through each grid square and gives each of them a value depending on whether it is white or black. After this, it makes a group of grid squares to develop a larger pattern.

Before proceeding to understand how a QR code works, you should first be aware of its different components. There are 6 parts to a QR code, and their detailed information is listed below.

• Quiet Zone

This zone is an empty white border around a QR code. This is an important part since a QR reader cannot determine the contents inside a QR code without it.

• Finder Pattern

A QR code has three black squares - at the top right corner, bottom left and top left corners. These squares help a QR reader to identify the location of outside boundaries of a QR code.

• Alignment Pattern

This is a smaller square that somewhere lies near the bottom right corner. Its function is to ensure that the QR code is read properly, even if it is at a different angle or skewed.

• Version Information

This is a small information space near the top-right finder pattern cell. This recognises the version in which the QR is being read.

• Timing Pattern

This is an L-shaped line that lies in between three squares in a finder pattern. It helps a QR reader to recognise each square within the entire code and allows it to read a damaged QR code.

• Data Cells

The data cells reveal the actual information in a QR code, such as phone number, URL, or message.

Here's a detailed stepwise guide on how a QR code scanner works:

Step 1: Place your phone in front of a QR code

Step 2: The QR code scanner in your mobile phone's camera identifies three position markers. With the help of an adequate quiet area, it can now recognise the location of the edges of a QR code.

Step 3: The scanner starts from the bottom right, where it confronts the mode indicator. These four data modules signal the data type, whether it is alphanumeric, kanji or byte.

Step 4: In the next step, the scanner confronts the character count indicator. It helps to indicate the character count in encoded data.

Step 5: After knowing the character length and data type, the scanner proceeds in a zig-zag trajectory along the data modules until it brings out all the encoded data and moves to the end indicator.

Step 6: After reading the last character, the QR scanner moves to the error correction data modules. There are four levels of error correction within these encoded modules. A QR reader also identifies the amount of backup of a QR code's encoded data.

To elaborate on the basic idea behind QR codes let us dive into its various types and their working mechanism.

1. Dynamic QR Code

A dynamic QR code allows you to alter the encoded information after its development. This is possible because the encoded information in a dynamic QR code contains a short direction URL. This indicates that this is an URL that redirects to another URL. It is also known as the destination URL.

Working Mechanism of a Dynamic QR Code

You can find the information on the destination URL. This data can be contact details, a wine list, an invitation, etc. You can change these data without altering a QR code. Moreover, you can change this destination URL as well. This is because the content encoded in a QR code is not a destination but a redirection URL.

One of the biggest advantages of a dynamic QR code is its ability to collect scanning metrics. This means you may not collect a user's personal information but can access the location, time and devices used to scan. These data are crucial for marketers to analyse a campaign's effectiveness.

2. Static QR Code

A static code is a QR code containing data you cannot change once created. Any mistake or typo will require you to develop a new one. This happens because this type of code has an embedded URL with a predetermined destination.

Working Mechanism of a Static QR Code

This code is suitable for storing sensitive and fixed information such as WiFi passwords, access codes and employee ID numbers. Besides, a static code does not have an expiry date. However, this QR code is not beneficial if you want to update information regularly.

Whether accessing the menu card while ordering food at a restaurant or paying for the products purchased at your nearby shops, QR code has become a part of everyday life. So, if you want to deploy QR codes to streamline your business, it is essential to know its working mechanism.

Hopefully, this guide on 'how does a QR code work' has helped you to gain knowledge about the same so that you can incorporate QR codes in your business without any hassle.