New barcodes emerge from MIT
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab (Cambridge, MA, USA; www.media.mit.edu) have developed a very tiny barcode that could provide a variety of useful information to shoppers as they scan the shelves. It could also lead to new devices for classroom presentations, business meetings, video games, or motion-capture systems.
The system, called Bokode, is named for the Japanese photography term bokeh, which refers to the round blob produced in an out-of-focus image of a light source. Bokode encodes data in the angular dimension: Light coming from the new tags varies in brightness depending on the angle at which it emerges.
Media Lab associate professor Ramesh Raskar says that almost no one seems to have used this method of encoding information. The new optical design enables tags to be shrunk to 3-mm visible diameter, and simple cameras (including those on mobile phones) several meters away can decode them. Currently the system requires a lens and a built-in LED light source, but future versions could be made reflective, similar to the holographic images found on credit cards.
The prototype devices cost about $5 each, most of that cost due to use of an off-the-shelf convex glass lens. Raskar says that price could easily drop to 5 cents once they are produced even in volumes of a few hundred units.