Visual QR Code with Beautication and Self-recovery Based on Data Hiding

Abstract

For the problem of beautification and self-recovery of visual QR (Quick Response) code, this paper proposes two schemes. The first scheme uses data hiding and beautified QR code for self-recovery. By decoding this visual QR code, we can not only access the relevant links embedded in it but also restore the original image. However, the QR code may be maliciously tampered with by the attacker during transmission (e.g., redirected to a phishing website). For tampering protection and recovery of the QR code, the QR code is bound with the background image. This increases the security level when user scans a QR code. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is superior to the reference method in terms of visual quality.