Subject: [CODE4LIB] Curious about Cell Phone Barcode Scanning Apps

From: Matt Amory <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 8 May 2009 10:39:49 -0400

I'm interested in some advice on building an app to pickup barcode data
through a cell phone camera and return OPAC/Library Thing/WorldCat etc.
results to a mobile interface.
I know that Android has a UPC barcode reader linked to a shopping app, and
I'm wondering if this can be used or repurposed, or if there's a better
place to begin.

Thanks!

---

From: Jonathan Rochkind <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 8 May 2009 10:47:37 -0400

I started to do a just bit of web research in this. Open source barcode 
photo recognition software looks like it's _just_ starting to become 
realistically available. This was the product that looked most 
promissing in my web research (not sure if it's what the Android app is 
using):

http://code.google.com/p/zxing/

My Umlaut software would be an _ideal_ end-point of barcode recognition, 
is why I started to look into it. Umlaut is designed specifically to 
meet the goal of taking a known item citation (such as an ISBN, sure), 
and returning a range of library availability and services for that 
item.  http://wiki.code4lib.org/index.php/Umlaut

The next step, which I haven't figured out yet, is how to get your 
software to participate in MMS/SMS architecture -- in particular to 
receive MMS/SMS messages in a way that's affordable to you and 
convenient to your users. (It looks like some but not all cell phones 
can send MMS messages to email, but not necessarily as conveniently as 
sending MMS to a cell number; but I'm not sure if there's a cheap way to 
have software receive MMS messages at a cell number. The Android app of 
course performs all it's processing on the Android itself, which you can 
do on a device-by-device basis for devices powerful enough for that; but 
I too am attracted to the idea of an MMS solution that would work on any 
MMS capable device, with no need to customize per device).

I also haven't actually looked at the zxing code yet.

But I'd love to have Umlaut able to receive an MMS message, and give the 
user back a concise list of library services/links. So many interesting 
projects, not enough time.

Jonathan

---

From: Eric Lease Morgan <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 8 May 2009 10:49:24 -0400

> I'm wondering if this can be used or repurposed, or if there's a  

Consider Semapedia, funny looking barcodes to map the physical world  
objects to the Webbed world:

   http://en.semapedia.org/

-- 
Eric Lease Morgan

---

From: Joe Atzberger <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 8 May 2009 11:28:05 -0400

Google provided the barcode-recognition line-interpolation software as open
source for Android developers to build on. That explains why I have about 4
barcode-scanning apps on the G1.

Note that most common cellphone camera's haven't advanced enough to get
reliable resolution for barcodes, in particular the up-close macro-like
distances you would use a scanner at.  My old nokia, despite the 3 MP
camera, couldn't get focus up close.

In a year or two that should be different for the currently available
models.

--Joe

---

From: Joe Hourcle <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 11:06:38 -0400

> camera, couldn't get focus up close.

At ASIS&T two years ago, one of the folks from Microsoft Research was 
handing out little lenses to put over your cellphone camera to change the 
focal length so it'd work for scanning barcodes.

(I'm only interested in this sort of thing as I deal with the Friends of 
the Library book sale, and I'd love to know if something actually has 
significant value and would be worth trying to sell through alternate 
means ... and I'm too cheap to shell out for one of the services where 
they modify your cell phone and you have to pay an ongoing service fee)

-Joe

---

From: Adam Brin <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 08:16:14 -0700

I've also been doing some research into this.  There are a number of  
toolkits out there. zxing gets most of the way there and it has an  
iPhone package as well (an app called "barcodes").  Most of them are  
still in the early stages.

I've also seen:
- http://zebra.sourceforge.net/
- http://www.bruji.com/cocoa/barcode.html
- http://code.google.com/p/jjil/

JJill seems to be in the backend of a bunch of them, but i've had a  
lot of trouble getting it setup.  I've been taking a conceptually  
different approach from Jonathan, focusing my thought on one platform  
that can showcase the app as opposed to solving the problem for all  
phones.

- adam

On May 8, 2009, at 7:47 AM, Jonathan Rochkind wrote:

> I started to do a just bit of web research in this. Open source  
> barcode photo recognition software looks like it's _just_ starting  
> to become realistically available. This was the product that looked  
> most promissing in my web research (not sure if it's what the  
> Android app is using):
>
> My Umlaut software would be an _ideal_ end-point of barcode  
> recognition, is why I started to look into it. Umlaut is designed  
> specifically to meet the goal of taking a known item citation (such  
> as an ISBN, sure), and returning a range of library availability and  
> services for that item.  http://wiki.code4lib.org/index.php/Umlaut
>
> convenient to your users. (It looks like some but not all cell  
> phones can send MMS messages to email, but not necessarily as  
> conveniently as sending MMS to a cell number; but I'm not sure if  
> there's a cheap way to have software receive MMS messages at a cell  
> number. The Android app of course performs all it's processing on  
> the Android itself, which you can do on a device-by-device basis for  
> devices powerful enough for that; but I too am attracted to the idea  
> of an MMS solution that would work on any MMS capable device, with  
> no need to customize per device).
>
> But I'd love to have Umlaut able to receive an MMS message, and give  
> the user back a concise list of library services/links. So many  
> interesting projects, not enough time.
>
> Jonathan
>
> Matt Amory wrote:

___________________________________________________________________
Adam Brin
ph: (510) 987.0636    fx: (510) 287.6123
[email-masked]

---

From: Matt Amory <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 20:46:55 -0400

Thanks for the tips.  I too am actually hoping to build a single platform
first.  I'm thinking that Android has the most robust set of tools
available, but i-Phone or even Palm might be the way to go.

My plan is to try to generate a set of "similar" titles by Author and
Subject, hopefully organized into three tabs (local OPAC/Library
Thing/Worldcat).  I'm doing this as an independent study in Library School.
I'd love to compare notes if you have time.

-Matt

On Tue, May 12, 2009 at 11:16 AM, Adam Brin <[email-masked]> wrote:

> toolkits out there. zxing gets most of the way there and it has an iPhone
> package as well (an app called "barcodes").  Most of them are still in the
> early stages.
>
> I've also seen:
> JJill seems to be in the backend of a bunch of them, but i've had a lot of
> trouble getting it setup.  I've been taking a conceptually different
> approach from Jonathan, focusing my thought on one platform that can
> showcase the app as opposed to solving the problem for all phones.
>
> - adam
>
>
>> realistically available. This was the product that looked most promissing in
>> my web research (not sure if it's what the Android app is using):
>>
>> is why I started to look into it. Umlaut is designed specifically to meet
>> the goal of taking a known item citation (such as an ISBN, sure), and
>> returning a range of library availability and services for that item.
>> http://wiki.code4lib.org/index.php/Umlaut
>>
>> software to participate in MMS/SMS architecture -- in particular to receive
>> MMS/SMS messages in a way that's affordable to you and convenient to your
>> users. (It looks like some but not all cell phones can send MMS messages to
>> email, but not necessarily as conveniently as sending MMS to a cell number;
>> but I'm not sure if there's a cheap way to have software receive MMS
>> messages at a cell number. The Android app of course performs all it's
>> processing on the Android itself, which you can do on a device-by-device
>> basis for devices powerful enough for that; but I too am attracted to the
>> idea of an MMS solution that would work on any MMS capable device, with no
>> need to customize per device).
>>

-- 
Matt Amory
(917) 771-4157
[email-masked]

---

From: Tyson Tate <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 13 May 2009 11:16:41 -0700

It's quite possible to scan barcodes with low-res, non-focusing
cameras. Delicious Library does it with the iSight built in to Macs:

http://delicious-monster.com/

Of course, I doubt they're using an open-source library to do so. But
it *is* possible.

-Tyson

---

From: Joe Hourcle <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 13 May 2009 14:46:06 -0400

And with all of this discusson, I just looked at Digg, and there's mention 
of a barcode scanner for the iPhone:

 	http://www.ismashphone.com/2009/05/red-laser-the-first-accurate-iphone-barcode-scanner-hits-the-app-store.html

-Joe