QR code research

I have to make frequent visits from where I currently live in northern Thailand to Bangkok. The bus is the best option for me. Unfortunately, it is a 10 hour one way trip. That means I have to keep myself entertained. But with today’s technology, it is easy to do. For example, the Oishi green tea juice box that the bus service gave me contained a QR code.

In the box it was mentioned as an “AR Technology” Code. I took AR as “Augmented Reality”. That’s a bit misleading, but maybe that’s what the company Oishi uses is referring to QR. By the way, QR is short for “Quick Reply”.

I know QR codes, but have never looked at them beyond identifying them on various products. I still had to go as far as to take a picture of the code and see what information it contains. It’s just not too popular in the US yet and the products that had codes don’t interest me. But I had a lot of free time, so I decided to check it out.

According to Wikipedia, QR codes are very popular in Japan. QR codes were invented in Japan in 1994, where they are currently the most popular type of two-dimensional codes. It also makes sense that my green tea juice box has a QR label … Oishi is a Japanese company.

QR codes are often used in advertisements and product packaging so that users can take a photo with their cell phone or webcam and then use the Internet to search for information about products, promotions / discounts and any number of other things that consumers they adore so much. I decided to try this for myself, so I downloaded “QR Reader” for my iPhone.

I took a photo with my iPhone camera and loaded QR Reader. The application allows you to take a photo directly from the application or choose a saved photo. I selected the photo from the QR tag. After a few seconds, the application spits out the following code: 8JZEPC

What does 8JZEPC mean? I was confused so I saved the information and decided to do more research when I had high speed internet access.

When I got home, I went to the AR Code section of the Oishi website. This is what the site says:

“Oishi Green Tea invites you to a new gaming experience. The first combination of the best technology in augmented reality technology of 2010 and online restaurant games together. The first time you will play as a restaurant owner. From Interior Design Shop Management with a cool menu prepared from everyone around the world. Using AR technology as part of the game. Code box next to Oishi Green Tea UHT broadcast via webcam Oishi Green Tea website. Imaginative fun from the north creating a restaurant full of games of the most innovative line of AR “.

I love the translation of this. From what I have collected, the code I received is part of a game. Here is the official link to the QR game. Use this code in the online game / contest to keep progressing and eventually win prizes. Very cool.

So it turns out that my iPhone read the QR correctly, it was just that instead of waiting for a website to read more information about Oishi green tea, it was a code used as part of an online game. Go figure! Anyway, I have a good time researching the technology and highly recommend Oishi green tea.