Application of QR-code steganography using data embedding technique

Abstract

Quick response (QR) code is a convenient product for mobile phone user. People can use the Smartphone camera to capture the code, and then decode it through dedicated reader application. Usually the code stands for text, contact information, or a web hyperlink. Users scan the image of QR code to display information or open a website page in the phone's browser. QR codes appear everywhere on posters, publicity flyers, TV advertisements, and even business cards. Since QR code looks like random noise, its existence may hurt the picture of commodities. In this paper, we propose a data embedding scheme to camouflage the existence of QR code. Experimental results showed that the proposed scheme hides the QR code successfully. Moreover, the quality of stego-images is nearly to 30 dB. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.