Per-channel color barcodes for displays

Abstract

A method of decoding a coherent RGB color barcode captured by a RGB camera includes: displaying a coherent RGB color barcode on the RGB display; capturing an image of the displayed barcode; performing a pilot block RGB color interference cancellation process to estimate a per pixel color interference; applying the per pixel color interference to the image of the displayed coherent RGB color barcode to extract each separate barcode of the coherent RGB color barcode; binarizing each of the three separate monochrome grey images of each barcode of the coherent RGB color barcode; and decoding each of the three separate binarized monochrome grey images to provide a decoded data for each barcode of the coherent RGB color barcode displayed on the RGB display. A method of decoding an incoherent RGB color barcode captured by a mobile device RGB camera is also described.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of encoding a coherent RGB color barcode of a chosen type comprising:
 receiving two or three data sequences designated to be encoded in two or three of the R, G, and B channels of a coherent RGB barcode image;   based on a barcode type and the two or three data sequences, selecting a geometric layout for a coherent barcode that determines locations relative to each other, of a plurality of synchronization patterns and a plurality of data encoding modules for the coherent color RGB barcode; and   creating the coherent RGB barcode image by embedding one each of said data sequences in one each of the R, G, and B channels of the coherent barcode as a monochrome barcode aligned with a selected geometric layout.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said embedding further sets a plurality of colors for regions in the coherent RGB barcode image that comprise the synchronization patterns to preselected combinations of R, G, and B forming pilot blocks to facilitate decoding.