The present application claims the benefit of the filing date of Japanese Application Nos. 2006-115345, filed on Apr. 19, 2006, and 2006-184020, filed on Jul. 4, 2006, disclosures of which are also incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention is a two-dimensional code with a logo and further pertains in detail to a two-dimensional code with a logo wherein a two-dimensional code has been added to a logo mark for representing a company or group.
2. Description of the Related Art
As exemplified in
With the above-described two-dimensional code, it is possible to scan with a reader provided in, for example, a cellular phone and because of this, URL information about, for example, a group such as a company can be obtained.
However, this type of two-dimensional code is basically a combination of white and black and even when displayed on, for example, pamphlets, it is information that people cannot understand and even when just looking at the above-mentioned two-dimensional code, it is not possible to understand what company or what group it stands for. Consequently, when displayed on, for example, pamphlets, it has the drawback of appearing to be a blemish on the design of the pamphlet or being annoying to someone just looking at it.
Recently, a method has been presented (Japan Published Unexamined Application No. 2000-123132) for a two-dimensional code representing information by means of a distribution pattern of the above-described cell 2 in which hues are expressed by means of the three colors of red, green and blue and the cell is color coded with the above-mentioned hues forming a distribution pattern.
On the other hand, the logo mark 3 shown in
This invention is one that takes the above-mentioned problems into consideration and has as its objective providing a two-dimensional code with a logo that can at the same time represent digital information and visual information by combining a two-dimensional code that represents information by means of a distribution pattern of cell dots color coded in the cell with the logo mark.
In order to resolve the above-described problems, the two-dimensional code with the logo according to this invention is characterized by superimposing a two-dimensional code representing information by means of a distribution pattern in the cell on a logo mark that visually represents the character.
In the preferred embodiment according to this invention, the above-described a plurality of cells are separated into and colored by three or more separate hues and with one of these being taken as the reference hue the cell dots of the above-mentioned reference color represent the information pattern.
Another preferred embodiment according to this invention is one wherein an outline is set up on the border of the character of the above-mentioned logo mark and further wherein the cell that the above-mentioned outline passes through has the border of the above-mentioned outline color coded on the edge.
In the above-described preferred embodiment, this invention is characterized by a shadow which is set up in cells coated with a reference color that are adjacent to cells coated with hues beside the above-mentioned reference color.
In another preferred embodiment according to this invention, the cell dots forming an information pattern are printed with transparent infrared absorbing ink. Furthermore, in such an embodiment when there is a letter part, a diagram part and a background part and the letter part and the diagram part are superimposed, the above-mentioned characters have only the cell dots of the above-mentioned letter part and background part printed with the above-mentioned infrared absorbing ink. Additionally, when having a letter part, a diagram part and background part and when the letter part and diagram part are superimposed, the above-mentioned character is one wherein only the cell dots of the diagram part are printed with the infrared absorbing ink.
In addition to having the two-dimensional code representing information by means of the distribution pattern of the cell dots coated in the cells superimposed with the logo mark visually representing the character, the two-dimensional code with the logo according to this invention and further its preferred embodiment is one wherein at least a part of the above-mentioned cell dot color area is smaller than the area of the cell.
In the above-described embodiment, the cell dots in which the above-mentioned color area is smaller than the cell area are dots wherein the center of the above-mentioned cell is colored with the prescribed color in 3% or more of the cell area and are dots in which the above-mentioned color area is smaller than the cell area that are of a geometric shape. Additionally, the cell dots whose above-mentioned color area is smaller than the cell area are characterized by an indefinite shape. Also, in this embodiment the part that is outside of the above-mentioned cell dots of the cells that have cell dots in which the color area is smaller than the area of the cell is one wherein colors are applied that differ from the above-mentioned cell dots.
In the above-described embodiment, there is the drawback that the border of the letter part 32 and the circular part 31 is eroded by the hue (black: reference color) of the two-dimensional code cell 2 and the logo mark 3 has become difficult to see.
In this embodiment, the white part represents the black color in the above-described first embodiment and represents the information pattern due to the above-mentioned white part (reference color). In this case, the above-mentioned a plurality of cells are divided into and colored by three or more colors and with one of them being the reference color the cell dots of the above-mentioned reference color represent the information pattern. That is, because of the white part (reference color) and the other colors the information is recorded in binary form.
The information pattern becomes disorganized due to the above-described outline and even if there is approximately 30% damage in this type of two-dimensional code, because reading is possible (cf. Japanese Published Unexamined Application No. 10-208001), there is no hindrance to reading of the two-dimensional code by means of the reader. Furthermore, as shown in
As shown in
As clarified by
The above-mentioned diamond shaped cell dots Dr in this embodiment are colored with black and white. As clarified in
For this case, the part outside of the diamond shaped cell dots Dr in the cells 2 is colored with a different color (black or white) (cf
For the other cells 2 not colored with the diamond shapes as, for example, the cells 2 of the letter part 32 and the background part 33, the cells that are not to be colored in white become the cell dots D1 which are completely colored in black and the cells which are not to be colored with the black color of the circular part 31 become the cell dots D2 colored in white. As a result, the cell dots which can be seen as the two-dimensional code cell dots become only the diamond shaped cell dots Dr and the logo mark 3 is easy to discern.
For the above-described two-dimensional code structure,
When the entire cell is colored in black as is the 4th cell in
Furthermore, because, as described above, the above-mentioned reader is a structure for scanning the center part DC (cf. the 3rd cell) in the cell 2, even if the area of the above-mentioned cell dot is, for example, one half of the diamond shape, the reader does not indicate the one half value and a value is taken that to a certain extent is high (a value recognized as black).
Consequently, if a cell dot is formed around DC, the center of the cell 2, reading can be easily performed even if the area is small. When forming a cell dot around DC, the center of the cell 2 and it is 3% or more of the area of the cell 2, it can be easily scanned with the reader in a mobile phone. The area of the cell 2 preferably is 20% or more.
Furthermore, in the two-dimensional code with the logo according to this invention the margin 4 as shown in
This embodiment has circular cell dots Dc. These circular cell dots DC are circles inscribed in the square cells 2 and do not completely color the cells 2. Even in this embodiment the letter part 32 and the background part 33 are formed with the same color and the circular part 31 is formed in white.
The remaining cell part outside of the color of the circular cell dots Dc in a similar manner in this embodiment is colored with a different color. According to the above-mentioned
In the above-describe 1st and 2nd embodiments, circular and diamond shaped cell dots are used but it is clearly possible to effectively use other geometric shapes with the cells such as, for example, squares or hexagons or other similar shapes.
In fact, in embodiments 4 through 6, when the parts expressed in black in the diagrams are blue and in embodiments 5 and 6 the other colored parts are ocher, they were readable by a reader in mobile phones.
In the above-described embodiments 4 through 6 of this invention, an outline on the border of the character C of the above-mentioned logo mark may be set up and in their preferable aspects, the cells that the above-mentioned outline passes through have the border of the above-mentioned outline color coded on the edge. Furthermore, a plurality of cells forming the information pattern may be colored by three or more colors with one of them taken as the reference color and the cell dots of the above-mentioned reference color may also represent the information pattern. In this aspect, it is preferable for the reference color representing the information pattern to be white.
In the above-described embodiments 4 through 6 of this invention, shadows may be set up in the cells coated with the above-mentioned reference color adjacent to the cells coated with a hue other than the reference color.
In the above-described aspect according to this invention, the cell dots forming the information pattern are characterized by being printed with transparent infrared absorbing ink. In this aspect, the said character is composed of a letter part, a diagram part and a background part and when the letter part and the diagram part are superimposed, only the cell dots of the above-mentioned letter part and background part are printed with the above-mentioned infrared absorbing ink. Furthermore, in aspects other than this, the letter part only may be formed with the above-mentioned infrared absorbing ink.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2006-115345 | Apr 2006 | JP | national |
2006-184020 | Jul 2006 | JP | national |
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