Secure 3D QR Codes with No Internet Required
Author: The Optical Society
Published: 2014/11/14 - Updated: 2023/09/16
Publication Type: Announcement / Notification
Topic: Electronics and Software - Publications List
Page Content: Synopsis - Introduction - Main
Synopsis: Article examines how QR codes can be a means to display 3D images and secure visual communication.
• In looking toward future applications, however, the researchers believe that their system can be improved to produce higher quality 3D visual images and a more secure integration with smartphone technology.
• A separate decryption app with a unique security key would be needed to decompress and reconstruct the image and only a smartphone with the correct key would be able to access the data.
Introduction
Quick Response (QR) codes, the box-shaped symbols that appear on signs, posters, and even business cards, are a convenient and efficient way of accessing specific web pages with a smartphone or other mobile device. However, new research published today in The Optical Society's (OSA) new high-impact journal Optica, explains how QR codes can do much more.
Main Item
By adding an array of tiny lenses to an ordinary smartphone, a team of optical engineers from the University of Connecticut has found a way to securely display three-dimensional (3D) images by simply scanning a series of QR codes, without ever accessing the Internet. This data storage and display scheme could have exciting implications for personal 3D entertainment, product visualizations for manufacturing and marketing, and secure 3D data storage and transmission.
"We have developed a method of using QR codes along with off-the-shelf mobile device technology such as smartphones to enable encrypted 3D information to be securely displayed on mobile devices," said Bahram Javidi, the project team leader and co-author on the paper. "The QR codes we developed store compressed and encrypted images, which can be easily scanned, decrypted, and decompressed by commercial smartphones for secure 3D visual communication."
Harnessing the Potential of QR Codes
Through their research, the engineers also addressed an intrinsic security flaw with QR codes. Currently, if a link to a website is stored in the QR code, a smartphone will automatically link to that website and access the data stored there, but that website may contain malicious programming.
"In our proposed method," Javidi said, "we store self-contained slices of data in the QR codes themselves. It's then possible to receive and visualize 3D images without using the Internet."
The process of storing and encoding the images is done by first selecting the primary image to be visualized. This could be either a single 3D object, like a car or household object, or an entire 3D scene.
The 3D image is then broken down by taking multiple 2D images of it from multiple perspectives, each 2D image is known as a single "elemental image." Each elemental image is taken from one portion of a precisely oriented array of tiny lenses called 'lenslets'.
The lenslet array, which resembles the multifaceted surface of a fly's eye, captures the scene from many slightly offset perspectives in a process known as "integral imaging." Each elemental image is then split into two essential parts: the angular information (the unique perspective of the 3D scene) and the corresponding intensity information, which establishes the shades of gray in each pixel.
If this information were simply recorded digitally, the process could easily be reversed by back-projecting all the elemental images through identically arranged lenslets and then overlapping and superimposing them to form a 3D image.
Encryption for Secure Image Display
In this case, however, each elemental image goes through a program that compresses, encrypts, and stores that information as a QR code. A smartphone with any commercial QR reader can then retrieve that data by sequentially scanning multiple codes.
A separate decryption app with a unique security key would be needed to decompress and reconstruct the image and only a smartphone with the correct key would be able to access the data. For the purpose of this research, the data was exported to an external computer where a specialized program decompressed and decrypted the image. Once all of the QR codes are converted back to the elemental images, the 3D image is reconstructed and displayed by placing a lenslet array on top of the smartphone screen.
"No special QR code reader or technology is needed," said Javidi. "However, we do not yet have an app to decrypt and decompress the image stored in the QR code, but it can be easily developed."
The researchers believe this is a highly secure method for data transfer.
For the purpose of the demonstration, the researchers used a process known as double-random-phase encryption, which has been used successfully in other applications. In this case, it is coupled with "photon counting," which is an imaging scheme that uses very sparse visual information and then transforms it mathematically to significantly improve the security of the process.
Next Steps and Bringing 3D Capabilities to Smartphones
This system is still in the concept stage and not yet available for commercial use.
In looking toward future applications, however, the researchers believe that their system can be improved to produce higher quality 3D visual images and a more secure integration with smartphone technology.
"This is definitely something you can look forward to accessing on your smartphone. We have successfully shown how QR codes can be a means to display 3D images and secure visual communication," said Javidi.
Optica
Optica is an open-access, online-only journal dedicated to the rapid dissemination of high-impact peer-reviewed research across the entire spectrum of optics and photonics.
Published monthly by The Optical Society (OSA), Optica provides a forum for pioneering research to be swiftly accessed by the international community, whether that research is theoretical or experimental, fundamental or applied.
Optica maintains a distinguished editorial board of more than 20 associate editors from around the world and is overseen by Editor-in-Chief Alex Gaeta of Cornell University.
Optical Society (OSA)
Founded in 1916, The Optical Society (OSA) is the leading professional organization for scientists, engineers, students and entrepreneurs who fuel discoveries, shape real-life applications and accelerate achievements in the science of light.
Through world-renowned publications, meetings and membership initiatives, OSA provides quality research, inspired interactions and dedicated resources for its extensive global network of optics and photonics experts. OSA is a founding partner of the National Photonics Initiative and the 2015 International Year of Light.
Paper:
A. Markman, J. Wang, B. Javidi, "3D Integral Imaging Displays Using a QR Encoded Elemental Image Array," Optica, 1, 5, 332-335 (2014).
Attribution/Source(s):
This quality-reviewed publication was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World (DW) due to its significant relevance to the disability community. Originally authored by The Optical Society, and published on 2014/11/14 (Edit Update: 2023/09/16), the content may have been edited for style, clarity, or brevity. For further details or clarifications, The Optical Society can be contacted at Contact Details. NOTE: Disabled World does not provide any warranties or endorsements related to this article.