194 lines
6.0 KiB
Markdown
194 lines
6.0 KiB
Markdown
Quirc
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=====
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QR codes are a type of high-density matrix barcodes, and quirc is a library for
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extracting and decoding them from images. It has several features which make it
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a good choice for this purpose:
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* It is fast enough to be used with realtime video: extracting and decoding
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from VGA frame takes about 50 ms on a modern x86 core.
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* It has a robust and tolerant recognition algorithm. It can correctly
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recognise and decode QR codes which are rotated and/or oblique to the camera.
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It can also distinguish and decode multiple codes within the same image.
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* It is easy to use, with a simple API described in a single commented header
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file (see below for an overview).
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* It is small and easily embeddable, with no dependencies other than standard C
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functions.
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* It has a very small memory footprint: one byte per image pixel, plus a few kB
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per decoder object.
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* It uses no global mutable state, and is safe to use in a multithreaded
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application.
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* BSD-licensed, with almost no restrictions regarding use and/or modification.
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The distribution comes with, in addition to the library, several test programs.
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While the core library is very portable, these programs have some additional
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dependencies. All of them require libjpeg, and two (`quirc-demo` and `inspect`)
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require SDL. The camera demos use Linux-specific APIs:
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### quirc-demo
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This is an real-time demo which requires a camera and a graphical display. The
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video stream is displayed on screen as it's received, and any QR codes
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recognised are highlighted in the image, with the decoded information both
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displayed on the image and printed on stdout.
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### quirc-scanner
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This program turns your camera into a barcode scanner. It's almost the same as
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the `demo` application, but it doesn't display the video stream, and thus
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doesn't require a graphical display.
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### qrtest
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This test is used to evaluate the performance of library. Given a directory
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tree containing a bunch of JPEG images, it will attempt to locate and decode QR
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codes in each image. Speed and success statistics are collected and printed on
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stdout.
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### inspect
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This test is used for debugging. Given a single JPEG image, it will display a
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diagram showing the internal state of the decoder as well as printing
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additional information on stdout.
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Installation
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------------
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To build the library and associated demos/tests, type `make`. If you need to
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decode "large" image files build with `CFLAGS="-DQUIRC_MAX_REGIONS=65534" make`
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instead. Note that this will increase the memory usage, it is discouraged for
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low resource devices (i.e. embedded).
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Type `make install` to install the library, header file and camera demos.
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You can specify one or several of the following targets if you don't want, or
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are unable to build everything:
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* libquirc.a
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* libquirc.so
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* qrtest
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* inspect
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* quirc-scanner
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* quirc-demo
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Library use
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-----------
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All of the library's functionality is exposed through a single header file,
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which you should include:
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```C
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#include <quirc.h>
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```
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To decode images, you'll need to instantiate a `struct quirc` object, which is
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done with the `quirc_new` function. Later, when you no longer need to decode
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anything, you should release the allocated memory with `quirc_destroy`:
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```C
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struct quirc *qr;
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qr = quirc_new();
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if (!qr) {
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perror("Failed to allocate memory");
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abort();
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}
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/* ... */
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quirc_destroy(qr);
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```
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Having obtained a decoder object, you need to set the image size that you'll be
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working with, which is done using `quirc_resize`:
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```C
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if (quirc_resize(qr, 640, 480) < 0) {
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perror("Failed to allocate video memory");
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abort();
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}
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```
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`quirc_resize` and `quirc_new` are the only library functions which allocate
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memory. If you plan to process a series of frames (or a video stream), you
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probably want to allocate and size a single decoder and hold onto it to process
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each frame.
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Processing frames is done in two stages. The first stage is an
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image-recognition stage called identification, which takes a grayscale image
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and searches for QR codes. Using `quirc_begin` and `quirc_end`, you can feed a
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grayscale image directly into the buffer that `quirc` uses for image
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processing:
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```C
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uint8_t *image;
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int w, h;
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image = quirc_begin(qr, &w, &h);
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/* Fill out the image buffer here.
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* image is a pointer to a w*h bytes.
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* One byte per pixel, w pixels per line, h lines in the buffer.
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*/
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quirc_end(qr);
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```
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Note that `quirc_begin` simply returns a pointer to a previously allocated
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buffer. The buffer will contain uninitialized data. After the call to
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`quirc_end`, the decoder holds a list of detected QR codes which can be queried
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via `quirc_count` and `quirc_extract`.
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At this point, the second stage of processing occurs -- decoding. This is done
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via the call to `quirc_decode`, which is not associated with a decoder object.
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```C
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int num_codes;
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int i;
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/* We've previously fed an image to the decoder via
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* quirc_begin/quirc_end.
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*/
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num_codes = quirc_count(qr);
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for (i = 0; i < num_codes; i++) {
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struct quirc_code code;
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struct quirc_data data;
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quirc_decode_error_t err;
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quirc_extract(qr, i, &code);
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/* Decoding stage */
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err = quirc_decode(&code, &data);
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if (err)
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printf("DECODE FAILED: %s\n", quirc_strerror(err));
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else
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printf("Data: %s\n", data.payload);
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}
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```
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`quirc_code` and `quirc_data` are flat structures which don't need to be
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initialized or freed after use.
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Copyright
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---------
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Copyright (C) 2010-2012 Daniel Beer <<dlbeer@gmail.com>>
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Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software for
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any purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the
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above copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all
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copies.
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THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL
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WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED
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WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
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AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
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DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR
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PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER
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TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR
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PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
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