ShotCode: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 21:33, 31 March 2009

Revision as of 16:54, 7 October 2009

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[[Image:shotcode.png|right|Sample ShotCode linking to this article.|200px]]

'''ShotCode''' is a circular [[barcode]] created by High Energy Magic of [[Cambridge University]]. It uses a [[dartboard]]-like circle, with a bulls eyebullseye in the centre and ''datacircles'' surrounding it. The technology reads databits from these datacircles by measuring the angle and distance from the bulls eyebullseye for each.

ShotCodes are designed to be read with a regular camera (including those found on [[mobile phone]]s and [[webcam]]s) without the need to purchase other specialised hardware. Because of the circular design, it is also possible for software to detect the angle from which the barcode is read. ShotCodes differ from [[Datamatrix|matrix barcodes]] in that they do not store regular data - rather, they store a look up number consisting of 40 bits of data. This needs to link to a server that holds information regarding a mapped [[Uniform Resource Locator|URL]] which the reading device can connect to in order to download said data.