QR code steganography with secret payload enhancement

Different from one-dimensional barcode, QR (quick response) code is a popular two-dimensional barcode due to the fact that it can carry greater data capacity and capable of resisting damage. The content of QR code can be easily revealed by barcode scanners. However, in the real world QR applications, the content could be private information, such as the e-ticket and e-coupon. The QR content should be protected to resist from unauthorized users/scanners. In this article, we explore the characteristic of QR barcode and design a QR barcode steganography mechanism. The private information can be embedded into a cover QR tag with high secret payload. For a normal scanner, a browser can only reveal the cover QR content from the marked QR code. Only the authorized user/scanner can further reveal the private secret from the marked QR tag. According to the experimental, the new algorithm can convey satisfactory secret payload in to a QR tag. The mechanism is efficient and feasible for private QR applications.