HK1109480B - Component comprising a logo mark and a two-dimensional code - Google Patents

Description

Component comprising a marking mark and a two-dimensional code

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a two-dimensional code with a logo, and more particularly, to a two-dimensional code with a logo in which a two-dimensional code is added to a logo mark for indicating a company, a group, or the like.

Background

As an example shown in fig. 1(a), the two-dimensional code includes 3 positioning symbols 1a, 1b, and 1c combining squares of a specific ratio, and between the positioning symbols 1a, 1b, and 1c, a plurality of cells 2 of squares are provided, and the cells 2 are differently coated in white and black (the differently coated cells are hereinafter referred to as "cell dots"), whereby information is recorded (for example, refer to japanese patent laid-open No. h 10-208001). Since such a two-dimensional code 1 can record more information than a barcode, it can be frequently used.

The two-dimensional code can be read by a reading device provided in a mobile phone, for example, and thereby information such as a URL of a company or the like can be obtained.

However, such a two-dimensional code is basically a combination of white and black, and even when displayed in a brochure or the like, information that cannot be understood by a person is still obtained. Then, when the user is indicated by a booklet or the like, there are disadvantages that the design of the booklet or the like is impaired and that it is troublesome for the user to view only visually.

Recently, as for the two-dimensional code in which information is expressed by the distribution pattern of the cells 2 as described above, there is also disclosed a method in which colors are expressed by red, green, and blue 3 colors, and the distribution pattern is formed so that the cells are differently coated by the colors (japanese patent laid-open No. 2000-123132).

On the other hand, the logo mark 3 shown in fig. 1(b) is used as a mark for indicating itself, a company, or a group, and is often a designed mark, and provides a visually excellent impression. Therefore, many people can recognize what kind of company or group is instantly recognized by recognition, but on the other hand, there is no information containing numbers.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a two-dimensional mark with a logo, in which a two-dimensional code representing information by a distribution pattern of cell dots differently coated on a cell is combined with a logo mark, thereby simultaneously representing digital information and visual information.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to solve the above problem, a two-dimensional code with a mark according to the present invention is characterized in that a two-dimensional code representing information by a cell distribution pattern is superimposed on a mark symbol visually representing a character.

In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the plurality of cells are colored in 3 or more colors, one of the cells is a reference color, and the reference colored cell dot represents an information pattern.

In another preferred aspect of the present invention, an outline is provided at a boundary of the character of the mark, and a cell through which the outline passes is coated differently around the boundary of the outline.

In the above preferred aspect, the present invention is characterized in that a shade is provided in a cell adjacent to a cell coated with a color other than the reference color and coated with the reference color.

In another preferred form of the invention, the unit dots forming the information pattern are printed by transparent infrared absorbing ink. In this aspect, the character includes a character portion, a graphic portion, and a background portion, and when the character portion and the graphic portion overlap each other, only the cell dots of the character portion and the background portion are printed by the infrared ink. Further, the character includes a character portion, a figure portion, and a background portion, and when the character portion and the figure portion overlap, only the cell dots of the figure portion are printed by the infrared ink.

In a more preferred form of the two-dimensional code with a logo according to the invention, characterized in that the two-dimensional code representing information by a distribution pattern of unit dots differently coated in a unit and at least a part of the colored area of the unit dots is smaller than the area of the unit is superimposed with a logo mark visually representing a character.

In the above aspect, the cell dots having a colored area smaller than the area of the cell are colored in a predetermined color in a range of 3% or more of the area of the cell, with the center of the cell being the center, and the cell dots having a colored area smaller than the area of the cell are geometrically shaped. The colored surface area of the colored dot is smaller than the surface area of the cell. In this aspect, the cell including the cell dot having the coloring area smaller than the area of the cell is colored in a color different from that of the cell dot except for the cell dot.

Drawings

FIG. 1(a) shows a plan view of a two-dimensional code (partially shown) of the prior art, and FIG. 1(b) shows a plan view of a logo of the prior art;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3(a) is a plan view of another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3(b) is a schematic view showing a state of a cell;

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of the shaded portion of the cell of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a plan view of a two-dimensional code;

FIG. 8 is a plan view of an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing the state of a unit in the above embodiment;

fig. 10 is a diagram illustrating a reading mechanism of the reading apparatus;

FIG. 11 is a plan view of embodiment 2 of the present invention;

fig. 12 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an amorphous unit dot;

fig. 13 is a plan view of embodiment 3 of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Fig. 1b is a plan view of a logo mark 3, and as is apparent from fig. 1b, for example, a character C indicating a group name or the like in the logo mark 3 includes a circular portion (graphic portion) 31 indicating a blank space and a character portion ("M" in the present embodiment) 32 indicated in the circular portion, and in the present invention, as shown in fig. 2, a two-dimensional code 1 (only a part of the two-dimensional code is indicated) forming an information pattern is superimposed on the logo mark 3. In the present embodiment, the color of the logo mark 3 is the same as the text portion 32 and the background portion 33 outside the circular portion 31, and the circular portion 31 is blank. In addition, the cells 2 in the two-dimensional code 1 are differently painted in black and white as shown in fig. 1(a), and the information pattern of the two-dimensional code is represented by 2 colors.

Such an embodiment has a disadvantage that the boundary between the letter portion 32 and the circular portion 31 is eroded by the color (black; reference coloring) of the cell 2 of the two-dimensional code, and the marking 3 is hardly recognized.

Fig. 3 shows the 2 nd embodiment of the present invention, and as can be understood from the figure, in this embodiment, an outline is provided along the boundary of at least the character C in the symbol mark 3. That is, the outlines 34 and 35 are provided along the boundary between the circular portion 31 and the letter portion 32, and the character C formed by the circular portion 31 and the letter portion 32 floats. This improves visibility.

In the present embodiment, a white portion indicates a black portion in the above-described embodiment 1, and an information pattern is indicated by the above-described white portion (reference coloring). In this case, the plurality of cells are colored in 3 or more colors, one of which is a reference color, and the reference colored cell dots represent information patterns. That is, information is recorded in binary by a white portion (reference coloring) and other color portions.

Although the information pattern is disturbed by the contour, the two-dimensional code can be read even when about 30% of the defects are present (japanese patent laid-open No. h 10-208001), and thus the two-dimensional code is not read by the reading device. Further, as shown in fig. 3(b), even in the case where the cell 2 is distinctively coated with another color with the outline 34 or 35 as a boundary, the information pattern can be represented by the white portion of the reference (reference coloring), and thus, the digital information can be effectively read.

In a preferred form of the invention, the shadow 36 may be provided in a colour other than white, as shown in figure 4. That is, the cells coated in the reference coloring may be provided with a shadow adjacent to the cells coated in the color other than the reference coloring. By providing such a shadow 36, the contrast between the cell dots of the cells 2 other than white and the cell dots of the cells 2 other than white can be increased, and the reading by the reading device can be facilitated.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of embodiment 3 of the present invention, and as can be seen from the figure, the unit dots are not visible in the portion other than the character portion 32 in the circular portion 31. The cells 2 in this portion are differentially coated with infrared absorbing ink (see japanese patent laid-open No. 6-107985) to form cell dots. Since the infrared absorbing ink is transparent, the cell dots are not visible except for the character portion 32 and the background portion 33. By using such an infrared absorbing ink, it is difficult to visually recognize the unit dots in the circular portion 31 except for the letter portion 32. However, the digital information can be easily obtained by reading the digital information with an infrared reading device provided in a mobile phone or the like.

Fig. 6 is a plan view showing one form of embodiment 3, and according to this embodiment, a unit dot is printed on a character portion 32 and a background portion 33 by the infrared absorbing ink, and a portion other than the character portion 32 in the circular portion 31 is colored in the same color (in this case, in the case of white, the background portion is not shown), and the unit dot is formed by white.

In the above embodiment, the cells forming the reference color are basically all subjected to the color processing in accordance with the reference coloring, but similarly, when the cells are not subjected to the color processing in accordance with the reference coloring, the two-dimensional code can be read.

Fig. 8 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the present invention in the case where the code shown in fig. 7 is used as the two-dimensional code (the mark of fig. 1(b) is used as the mark). The two-dimensional code is a structure in which square cells having a side length of 4mm are arranged in rows and columns of 45 × 45.

As is apparent from fig. 8, in the above-described marker symbol 3, the character portion 32 and the background portion 33 are the same color (black in fig. 8, but may be of various colors), and the circular portion 31 is colored in white, which is a reference color. The cell point D for coloring the cell 2 is a cell point Dr in which a part is in a diamond shape, and all the square cells 2 are not colored. That is, the colored area of the unit point Dr in the diamond shape is smaller than the area of the unit 2. Fig. 9 shows this state in a schematic manner. As is apparent from fig. 9, the area of the cell point Dr is 1/2 (embodiment 4) of the area of the cell 2 in the present embodiment.

The above-described rhombic cell dots Dr are colored in black and white in the present embodiment. As is clear from fig. 8, since the character portion 32 and the background portion 33 are colored in black, the diamond-shaped cell points Dr are colored in white (see row 1 in fig. 9), and the circular portion 31 is colored in white, so that the diamond-shaped cell points Dr are colored in black (see row 2 in fig. 9).

In this case, the portion of the cell 2 other than the diamond-shaped cell point Dr is colored in another color (black or white) (see fig. 10).

In the case of another cell 2 not colored in a diamond shape, for example, a cell 2 of the character part 32 and the background part 33, the cell not to be colored in white constitutes a cell point D1 in which the entire cell is colored in black, and the cell not to be colored in black in the circular part 31 constitutes a cell point D2 in which the entire cell is colored in white. Thus, the unit points recognizable as the unit points of the two-dimensional code are only the unit points Dr having the diamond shape, and the symbol 3 is easily recognized.

Fig. 10 is a diagram for explaining a mechanism that can be read by a reading device in the two-dimensional code structure as described above. The reading device is configured to read the center portion DC (see unit 3) of the unit 2, and it is found that the reading device can read the center portion DC regardless of the shape.

In the case where the entire cell is colored in black as in the 4 th cell in fig. 10 and the reading device recognizes 1, for example, and the entire cell is colored in white as in the 5 th cell and recognizes 0, as in the 1 st cell 2 in fig. 10, for example, the diamond-shaped white cell point Drw takes a value which is recognized as black to some extent as shown in a graph unlike the 5 th cell, and even in this case, the reading device recognizes 0 as white when the threshold value is lower than the above value. On the other hand, in the case of the diamond-shaped black cell point Drb, as in the case of the 2 nd cell 2, unlike in the case of the 4 th cell, a value that is recognized as white to some extent is taken as indicated by a graph, and even in this case, when the threshold value of the reading device is higher than the above value, it is recognized as 1 as black.

Further, since the reading device is configured to read the center portion DC (see the 3 rd cell) of the cell 2 as described above, even when the area of the cell dot is half as in the case of a diamond, for example, the reading device does not display half of the value, and can take a high value (a value recognized as black) to some extent.

Thus, if a cell dot is formed centering on the central portion DC of the cell 2, reading can be easily performed even if the area is small. When a cell dot is formed with the center portion DC of the cell 2 as the center, if the area of the cell dot is 3% or more of the area of the cell 2, the cell dot can be easily read by a reading device of a mobile phone. Preferably, the area of the cell dots is 20% or more of the area of the cell 2.

In the two-dimensional code with a logo according to the present invention, as shown in fig. 8, a white space 4 is provided outside the two-dimensional code with a logo. The reason for this is that: if the width L of the space 4 is less than 50% of the length of the unit 2 in the lateral or longitudinal direction, it is difficult to read by the reading device (in the following embodiment, the same is omitted in the drawings).

Fig. 11 is a plan view of embodiment 5 of the present invention. Also in the present embodiment, the two-dimensional code 1 of fig. 7 is used, and the marking 3 is the mark of fig. 1 (b). This embodiment has the same size of cells, number of cells as the above embodiment.

In the present embodiment, there are circular unit points Dc. The circular cell point Dc is a circle inscribed in the square cell 2, and all of the cells 2 are not colored. Also in the present embodiment, the letter portion 32 and the background portion 33 are formed in the same color, and the circular portion 31 is formed in white.

Also in the present embodiment, the remaining cell portions other than the color of the circular cell points Dc are colored in other colors. According to fig. 11, the character portion 32 and the background portion 33 are black, and the circular cell dots Dc of the portion are colored in white, and the remaining cell portions are colored in black. In the present embodiment, the circular portion 31 is white as described above, but the cell point Df is of an indefinite shape and is colored other than white and black. Even in the case of coloring other than black, as in the case of the 6 th cell in fig. 6, when the value is larger than the threshold value, the value is recognized as 1, and the transmission of the information of the two-dimensional code is not hindered. Thus, in the above-described embodiment 1 and this embodiment, even in the case where the character portion 32 and the background portion 33 which are black are colored in colors other than black, it is apparent that the transmission of information is not hindered.

In the above-described embodiment 1 and embodiment 2, the cell dots of the circular shape and the diamond shape are used, and it is apparent that other geometric shapes such as a quadrangle, a hexagon, and the like, which are similar in shape to the cells, can be effectively used.

Fig. 12 is a diagram schematically showing the above-described indefinite cell point Df, but when information of a cell indicated by oblique lines is intended to be indicated by a two-dimensional code, in the past, cell numbers (indicated by horizontal numbers — vertical numbers) 4-2, 5-2, 2-3, 3-3, 4-3, 5-3 were colored in black or the like, and other numbers were colored in white. However, in the present embodiment, the cell point Df is formed by a shape indicated by a thick line, and the inside of the cell point Df is colored in a predetermined color. For example, the cell of the cell number 4-2 is not entirely surrounded by the thick line of the cell point Df, and therefore the entire cell is not colored. However, since most of the cells are colored with the center part of the cell as the center, 1 of the colored information is represented. The cell 4-1 is partially surrounded by a thick line of the cell point Df and is therefore partially colored, but is white around the center of the cell, and is indicated as 0 as information as is clear from the description of fig. 9 and 10. Thus, even with such an indefinite unit dot Df, information of the two-dimensional code can be read.

Fig. 13 shows embodiment 6 of the present invention, but the same two-dimensional code is the code shown in fig. 7, and the mark symbol is the symbol shown in fig. 1 (b). The size and number of the cells are the same as those in the above-described 1 st and 2 nd embodiments. According to the present embodiment, the cell dots Df are variously indefinite, and the cells other than white are constituted only by the indefinite cell dots Df as described with reference to fig. 12 (as a result, the white cell dots are also indefinite). Such a two-dimensional code with a logo can also be read by a portable telephone without hindrance.

Actually, in the above-described 4 th to 6 th embodiments, when a two-dimensional code is produced in which a portion shown in black in the drawing is colored in blue and the other colored portions in the 5 th and 6 th embodiments are colored in yellow brown, the two-dimensional code can be read by a reader of a mobile phone.

In embodiments 4 to 6 of the present invention, an outline may be provided on the boundary of the character C of the mark symbol, and in a preferred form, the cell through which the outline passes is differently coated with the boundary of the outline as a boundary.

In addition, the plurality of cells forming the information pattern may be colored in 3 or more colors, and one of the cells may be colored as a reference, and the reference colored cell dot may represent the information pattern. In such an aspect, the reference representing the information pattern is preferably colored white.

In the above-described embodiments 4 to 6 of the present invention, the cells coated in the reference color may be shaded adjacent to the cells coated in the colors other than the reference color.

The above aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the unit dots forming the information pattern are printed by transparent infrared absorbing ink. In this aspect, when the character includes a character portion, a graphic portion, and a background portion, and the character portion and the graphic portion overlap each other, only the cell dots of the character portion and the background portion are printed by the infrared absorbing ink. In such another form, only the character portion may be formed by the infrared absorbing ink.

Claims (13)

1. A component comprising a marking indicia and a two-dimensional code, said two-dimensional code containing digital information readable by a reading device, the two-dimensional code representing said digital information by a distribution pattern of cell dots formed by coloring in a plurality of cells, said component superimposing said two-dimensional code and the marking indicia visually representing a character,

in the above-described member, a portion of the mark symbol having a predetermined lightness or higher overlaps a cell point of the two-dimensional code that does not satisfy the predetermined lightness; the part of the mark symbol which does not satisfy the predetermined lightness overlaps with the cell point of the two-dimensional code which is equal to or higher than the predetermined lightness,

the digital information is represented by a distribution pattern of the superimposed unit dots of the predetermined lightness or higher and the superimposed portions of the marker symbol of the predetermined lightness or higher, and the superimposed unit dots of the predetermined lightness or higher and the superimposed portions of the marker symbol of the predetermined lightness or higher.

2. The component comprising a logo mark and a two-dimensional code according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of cells are colored in 3 or more colors, one of which is a reference color, and the cell dots of said reference color represent an information pattern.

3. The component comprising a marking indicia and a two-dimensional code according to claim 1, wherein an outline is provided on the boundary of the character of said marking indicia.

4. The member including a symbol and a two-dimensional code according to claim 3, wherein the cells through which said outline passes are coated distinctively with boundaries of said outline as boundaries.

5. The member comprising a logo mark and a two-dimensional code according to claim 2, wherein a shadow is provided in a cell adjacent to a cell coated with a color other than the reference coloring and coated with the reference coloring.

6. A member comprising a marking indicia and a two-dimensional code according to claim 2 wherein the dots of elements forming the information pattern are printed by means of a transparent infrared absorbing ink.

7. The member comprising a logo mark and a two-dimensional code according to claim 6, wherein said character comprises a letter portion, a figure portion and a background portion, and when the letter portion and the figure portion are overlapped, only the cell dots of the letter portion and the background portion are printed by said infrared absorbing ink.

8. The member comprising a logo mark and a two-dimensional code according to claim 6, wherein said character comprises a letter portion, a figure portion and a background portion, and when the letter portion and the figure portion are overlapped, only the cell dots of said figure portion are printed by said infrared absorbing ink.

9. A member including a logo mark and a two-dimensional code according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein at least a part of said cell dots are colored in an area smaller than an area of the cell.

10. The member including the emblem and the two-dimensional code according to claim 9, wherein the cell dots having the colored area smaller than the area of the cell are colored in a predetermined color in a range of 3% or more of the area of the cell, with the center of the cell being the center.

11. The component comprising a logo mark and a two-dimensional code according to claim 9, wherein the cell dots having a colored area smaller than the area of the cell are geometric shapes.

12. The component comprising a logo mark and a two-dimensional code according to claim 9, wherein the cell dot colored in an area smaller than the area of the cell is in an indefinite shape.

13. The component including the emblem mark and the two-dimensional code according to claim 9, wherein the portion of the cell other than the cell dot including the cell dot having the colored area smaller than the area of the cell is colored in a color different from the cell dot.