USE OF COLOUR SENSORS IN COLOUR CELLS TECHNOLOGY:
A NEW APPROACH FOR CODING
Anand Vedula
VEDA IIT, Hyderabad
anand.vedula@gmail.com
Ph: 9949055417
Abstract
The coding formats available today like
the barcodes have proved to be successful
because of their various applications like coding
of products by a manufacturer, coding of books
by a publisher, etc.
The continuous advancement in the
sensors technology can provide advancement in
the coding format.
The improvement in color sensors
technology can give rise to a better and efficient
coding technique. One such method is the color
cells technology which is proposed and
described in this thesis.
Due to its advantages like the
compactness, security, and efficiency, this code
is well suited to be used as a substitute for all
available codes like the barcodes.
In this paper, the designing of the color
cells encoding technology and its decoding using
the color sensors is studied.
Introduction
The increasing demand for storing
information in an encoded format has given rise
to various encoding techniques. One of the first
successful encoding techniques is the barcodes.
A barcode stores information in the widths and
spacing of printed parallel lines, which is most
widely used today.
The demand for a more efficient coding
technique gave rise to other coding formats like
that of PDF417, 2D barcode etc. these codes are
mainly used to encode the various items from a
manufacturer, books published by a publishing
company, etc.
The innumerable applications of the
coding techniques triggered the necessity for a
more efficient coding technique.
To make coding more efficient we here
use a new format of coding technique which is
more efficient than the available coding formats.
The new technique presented in this
paper is the color cell technology which greatly
improves the coding of information and gives far
more applications.
The future of the coding techniques
shows that we may get a code which is just the
size of a small dot and it can store all the
required information.
Color sensors technology
The important aspect for any coding
technique is its ability to store and retrieve
information quickly and correctly. The basic
process involved in formation of a coding
technology is the encoding and the decoding
process based on which the efficiency of any
code can be determined.
Size and shape of color cell
In this paper the color cells of
dimensions 4mmX4mm is used, which basically
results in a square cell pattern.
Encoding
The color cells technology basically
uses the different intensities of the basic colours
(red, green and blue) for its encoding process.
Any color can be obtained by mixing these
primary colors Red, Green and Blue in different
quantities and can be represented uniquely.
Hence by using different colors, different
characters can be encoded which can be used for
coding.
In the color cell technology, 6 bits are
used to encode each color, i.e., apportioned with
8 bits each for red, green and blue, giving a
range of 4 possible values, or intensities, for each
hue. With this system, 64 (43 or 26) discrete
combinations of hue and intensity can be
specified.
Each basic color can have 4 different
intensities; let the intensities be 0.25, 0.5, 0.75,
and 1.0, assuming the intensity 1.0 indicates full
saturation (or full intensity).
The intensities can be represented in
digital format by assigning
00 to the intensity 0-0.25,
01 to the intensity 0.25-0.50,
10 to the intensity 0.50-0.75,
11 to the intensity 0.75-1.00.
0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1 “00 00 00” (0-0.25 intensity red, 0-0.25
Hence taking the digital coding
sequence as RGB:
Intensity of red (2 bits)
Intensity of green (2 bits)
Intensity of blue (2 bits)
The digital form of any color consists of
6 bits as “RRGGBB”, where each letter ‘R’,’G’
and ‘B’ takes the value either ‘0’ or ‘1’.
Description of colors for characters
By using a 6 bit code, a total of 64
different characters can be specified. The most
common characters which can be used
effectively are letters from the English alphabet
and the decimal digits. In this code we use 26
upper case letters and 26 lower case letters of
English alphabet and 10 digits, which make a
total of 62 characters which can be used to
encode 62 of the 64 codes. The remaining 2
codes are reserved for special purpose.
The colors and the corresponding binary
sequence can be used for encoding.
The upper case characters are
represented using the binary sequences:
“00 00 01” (0-0.25 intensity red, 0-0.25 intensity
Green, 0.25-0.5 intensity Blue) for ‘A’ to
“01 10 10” (0.25-0.5 intensity red, 0.5-0.75
intensity Green, 0.25-0.75 intensity Blue) for ‘Z’
The lower case characters are
represented using the binary sequences:
“01 10 11” (0.25-0.5 intensity red, 0.5-0.75
intensity Green, 0.75-1.0 intensity Blue) for ‘a’
to “11 01 00” (0.75-1.0 intensity red, 0.25-0.5
intensity Green, 0-0.25 intensity Blue) for ‘z’.
The 10 decimal digits can be
represented using the binary sequence
“11 01 01” (0.75-1.0 intensity red, 0.25-0.5
intensity Green, 0.25-0.5 intensity Blue) for ‘0’
to “11 11 10” (0.75-1.0 intensity red, 0.75-1.0
intensity Green, 0.5-0.75 intensity Blue) for ‘9’.
The remaining two binary sequences are “00 00
00” and “11 11 11”.
These are special purpose colors.
intensity Green, 0-0.25 intensity Blue), this is an
exceptional case where we use “zero” intensities
of each color.
Hence the binary code “00 00 00”, (0
intensity red, 0 intensity green and 0 intensity
blue), corresponds to color BLACK which is
used for starting and ending bits.
“11 11 11” is another exceptional case
where only the fully saturated colors are used.
Hence the binary code “11 11 11” (‘1’ intensity
red, ‘1’ intensity green and ‘1’ intensity blue),
corresponds to color WHITE, which is another
special purpose code used for spacing between
two colors.
Description of the code
Another important aspect required for
coding is to define the coding pattern. The color
cells technology as proposed uses the following
format for coding.
The first and the last cells are BLACK
cells or “00 00 00” cells.
Any sequence starts and ends with a
BLACK cell, the first encountered Black cell
represents the start of the coding sequence and
the last Black cell represents the end of coding An example code
sequence.

All the cells in between the BLACK

cells are coding cells, i.e., they represent a code.

A white cell is placed between each and

every cell to denote the end of each cell and start To calculate the error bit
of next cell.
(12*1) + (3*2) + (48*3) + (60*4) + (15*5) +
Handling errors in the code (51*6) = 783.

Hence parity cell should have digital

Any code is prone to errors due to lack equivalent of 17(01 00 01) i.e. 0.5 red and 0.5
of high precision devices and due to noise and blue.
fading effects. To handle the errors properly the
following measures are taken during the coding
process. Memory space requirements
1) The cell dimensions are made such that
each cell consists of 16 sub cells in the The amount of memory, in bits, can be
form of a 4X4 matrix. During decoding found by multiplying the number of bits/cell
each cell is scanned at all the 16 with the total number of cells present. A 64 cell
different sub-cells and the code which is pattern each of size 6 bits occupies 6 X 64 bits of
in majority is chosen. memory space. This equals 384 bits to store the
2) Error correction: To detect when an details of all cells.
error occurs an extra bit is used at the
end of the coding cells and before the
ending black cell. The following
Decoding the color cells
procedure is adopted to choose the color The color cells can be decoded in a
of the last cell. number of ways by using color sensors,
scanners, cameras, etc.
Each cell is multiplied by n, where ‘n’ is the
corresponding location from the starting
black cell, (the first cell after the start black Use of Color sensor
cell will have the location ‘1’ and second Color sensor can be very effectively
cell will have location ‘2’, etc.), which and used for the decoding of the color cells in all
all such available values are added up to get general applications like that of a supermarket,
a certain value, the last cell is chosen such etc.
that the total added value of all the cells is a
multiple of 50.
Color sensor circuit and its operation
By using this type of correction, occurrence
of errors can be easily determined by just
using one parity cell. The use of
multiplication factor n ensures that a
positive error form one cell is not cancelled
by the negative error from another cell. The
use of 50 as the multiple for the total sum
ensures that the use of Black cell can be
avoided as the parity cell.
 A light to analog-voltage-color sensor
comprises an array of photodiodes behind color
filters and an integrated current-to-voltage
conversion circuit (usually a transimpedence
amplifier). Light falling on each of the
photodiodes is converted into a photocurrent, the
magnitude of which is dependent on both the
brightness wavelength (wavelength due to the
color filter) of the incident light. The red, green
and blue transmissive color filters will reshape
and optimize the photodiode’s spectral response.
Properly designed filters will result in a spectral
response for the filtered photodiode array that
mimics that of the human eye. The photocurrents
from each of the three photodiodes are converted
to VRout, VGout, VBout using a current-to-voltage
converter. Thus we get three output voltage
levels for a single color. Each output depends on
the intensity or hue of respective color. The
maximum possible output voltage is given the
value 3 on scale and the whole length is divided
into 4 equal parts (pixel length). Though output
is analog, we are considering it as digital i.e. step
function of a value is considered. For example,
the range of 3.01 to 3.99 is considered as 3.
Thus, the output of our sensor is exactly
computer representation and can be directly fed
into computer using interfacing circuits
(multiplier).
Color sensing
A light source and an object are kept
very near to each other. Light reflects on the
object and falls on the sensor’s lenses. Then
sensor operation takes place and three output
voltages are obtained for Red, Blue and Green
respectively.
The main areas of application of color
cells
1) Replacing bar code technology
The color cells technology can be used
to replace the existing barcode technology to
encode the different items of a supermarket
and in other applications where barcodes are
used; this application is discussed in detail
later in this thesis.
2) Encoding automobiles:
The color cells can be used to encode
automobiles which help in easy
identification of automobiles especially
during crimes, since the color cells cannot
be easily tampered; it gives good
information about the vehicles crossing a
particular area.
3) Use in cellular phones:
Color codes can be used in cellular
phones to encode all the cell phones
available with a different code, this helps in
finding the cell phone easily during thefts.
4) Encoding ASCII:
Color cells technology can also be used
for encoding all ASCII characters with a
different color cell. The use of 9 bits code (3
bits for each color) can be used to obtain
512 different color cells and hence can be
easily used to encode all the characters of
ASCII, which has only 128 characters.
5) Application in Military And High
Security Areas:
The use of very high bit encoded
sequence of colors finds use in sending a
highly secure data especially in the printed
form. By using up to 24 bits of information,
apportioned with 8 bits each for red, green
and blue, giving a range of 256 possible
values, or intensities, for each hue. With this
system, 16,777,216 (2563 or 224) discrete
combinations of hue and intensity can be
specified .Normally; people cannot
distinguish more than a few hundred hues.
Hence by using this, high security for
the data can be achieved since the decoding
process requires a very high precision
scanner and the colors cannot be detected by
the human eye.
 6) Encoding all the English words
The use of color cells technology
enables us to encode all the words in the
English language. By using 30 bits of
information apportioned with 10 bits each
for red, green and blue, giving a range of
1024 possible intensities for each hue. With
this, 1,073,741,824 (10243 or 230 ) different
color cells can be formed. This enables the
encoding of all the English words into the
color cells format.
Hence by using this technology a highly
encoded language can be produced which
can be used for security purposes.
This encoding mainly requires the use
of very high quality scanners which are not
yet available. The technology of the future
ensures the use of this type of coding.
2D and skating of color cells:
In order to encrypt more data 2D color
cells or staking of cells can be used.
In the 2D color cells technology, the
code is organized in the form of an mXn matrix.
In 2D color cell technology two BLCK
cells are used as starting and ending cells instead
of single BLACK cell which differentiated this
code from the conventional 1D type of color cell
coding.
Each row of the 2D color cell have their
own start and stop cells( 1 Black cell), which can
be decoded in the sane format as that of the 1D
color cell decoding.
Hence the starting of the first row and
the ending of the last row consists of 2 Black
cells which indicate the beginning and ending
and single black cells indicate the starting and
ending of rows of the 2D color cell code.
Color cells as a replacement for bar
codes:
The color cells technology can be
effectively used as a substitute for barcodes. For
encoding the manufacturer’s details and the
items produced by the manufacturer. The
following procedure can be used.
The number of color cells used for this
purpose is 7 (excluding the start and end cells).
The first 3 cells gives the information of the
manufacturer’s identity and the next 3 cells gives
the information about the product identity and
the last cell is used for error checking. To make
the code more free from errors, the
corresponding character is used below the
corresponding cell which enables the product
identification in case of unpredictable errors.
Advantages of replacement of color cell
technology as a replacement for bar
codes:
1) SPACE REQUIREMENT: The space
required to represent a color cell code is
far less that the commercially available
barcode.
2) Larger number of products can be
encoded: the use of color cells
technology enables us to identify
238,328 companies and 238328
products of each company which is far
grater than the 12 digit bar code which
encodes only 99,999 companies and
99,999 products of each company.
Conclusion:
The use of color cells technology reduces
the size of the code to a good extent and a very
large number of products can be coded using a
small code sequence, and this code being less
prone to errors, is highly efficient. The
availability of color sensors technology makes
the decoding process very efficient. Hence, due
to these advantages, the color cells technology
can be used effectively in its application areas.
References
[1] Sensors Handbook by: Soloman and Sabrie
[2] The Bar Code Manual - Eugene F. Brighan
[3] http://www.keyence.com/products/sensors
[4] http://www.bartronicsindia.com/