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neetdeth

Technical specification is here: https://www.bsi.bund.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/EN/BSI/Publicat...

Every JAB code has four registration patterns in the corners, as well as multiple color pallets at fixed locations.

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I think OP's point was that humans can't recognize those features.

Edit: I should have said untrained humans.

OP did also say that the registration marks had machine benefits, for which it's worth noting that they are defined, even if humans can't spot them.

I can recognize those features. Sure, you need to look for them, but why would anyone care to? Surely after encountering only a few RGB codes the average person will have no trouble inferring that a jumble of colored blocks against a white background is likely to be encoded data. Same "training process" as needed for QR codes - although in this case the quiet zone is not needed, so you _could_ use these in a deliberately obscure fashion if you wanted, which isn't a shortcoming.

Yes, you're able to realize that any given RGB mess-of-pixels printed somewhere is "likely to be encoded data", but maybe, you'll think, there might be multiple standards for RGB-encoded data (there are) and so, what standard does this code obey? Is it one your phone can parse?

QR codes are able to be recognized as QR codes, which means you're able to think "I could definitely scan that", rather than thinking "that is some data there, that I could maybe read or maybe not."

It's the same as the difference between saying that data on the wire is "a TCP packet" vs saying it's "HTTP." Yes, either way, you know that you've got some packets—but if you want to parse them, you'd better be able to recognize the format of those packets.

We're thankfully not cursed with a multitude of competing standards for bilevel monochrome 2D codes (they do exist, but 90+ percent of everything out in the wild is QR). I don't think an end user is going to be competent to understand the differences between them in any case. The standard operating procedure will continue to be "point the scanner at it and hope for the best." If multiple competing standards do become popular, the most likely result is that scanners support all of them and we just eat the software bloat.

There are also multiple standards for black and white 2d bar codes.

This is backed by the Fraunhofer Society and the German government, and on tracks to become an ISO standard. It will be implemented in scanners (hardware and software).

Yes, and most people are not aware that there are multiple barcode standards, even with 1D barcodes. Ask anyone what the difference is between Interleaved 2of5, Code 39, Code128, UPC/EAN, PostNet, etc. and they'll be hard-pressed to identify any of the distinguishing characteristics that are immediately obvious to the trained eye.

Hey on page 29 does anyone see a pattern that resembles.. historical German symbology used by to represent national pride and a government party that rose to power in the 1920's? Am I the only one? Sorry, just popped out at me.

Yeah, but I'd give them the benefit of a doubt unless it's visible on actual codes or there is evidence this was intentional.

You end up with that pattern all the time when you try to efficiently pack rectangles around a different sized rectangle. I remember trying to avoid that back when placing fields in age of empires 2.

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