.jpg)
This MIT Media Lab photo shows a view of how bokode
stores data. (MIT)
Barcodes may make it easier to check out of the super market, but they only contain limited information – such as the price of an item – and they not only have to be read by a specialized device just inches away, but they also take up a lot of space, especially on small items.
Bokode, a type of data tag being developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab, has the potential to do far more because these tiny tags hold thousand of bits of information, can be scanned by ordinary digital cameras a dozen feet away, and only take up the physical space of a symbol on a computer keyboard.
On the millions of cargo containers entering U.S. ports, they could easily list the contents, their origin, and when they were packed. This could help in the process of screening for contraband.
Wikipedia sees bokode as a play on words between the Japanese photographic term “bokeh” and barcode. Bokodes use a two-dimensional code similar to one developed in Japan.
The current data tags use a tiny lens, a new way of encoding visual information, and an LED light source, but may use reflected light from a camera flash in the future, according to Associate Professor Ramesh Raskar, who leads the lab's Camera Culture group.
The concept and the research will be presented in August at SIGGRAPH, the leading international conference and exhibition on computer graphics and interactive techniques. The lead author is Media Lab postdoc Ankit Mohan. The co-authors, are Raskar, graduate student Grace Woo, Shinsaku Hiura (a visiting professor from Osaka University), and postdoc Quinn Smithwick.
"We're trying to make it nearly invisible, but at the same time easy to read with a standard camera, even a mobile phone camera," Mohan said in an interview with the M.I.T News Office. Prototype bokodes cost about $5 each, but Raskar sees that droping to 5 cents apiece even with volumes of a few hundred units.
For more information: The MIT Media Lab presentation
Comments