Robust and Fast Localization Algorithm for Data Matrix Barcode

Data Matrix barcode is one of the most extensively used 2D barcodes. During the flow process of Data Matrix barcode decoding, barcode localization is the first and non-trivial step for the latter steps, like affine transformation adjustment, fine-level foreground region extraction etc. In this paper, an innovative method for Data Matrix barcode localization based on boundary tracking and Radon transform was proposed. The superiority of the proposed method lies in three-folds: 1) it is independent of geometrical constrains of the shape of the barcode region; 2) boundary tracking is performed hierarchically with heuristic rules without complicated predicting method; 3) the points for operating Random transform can be initiated after edge tracking to save computational complexity. Experimental results showed the accuracy, robustness, and efficiency of the proposed method for Data Matrix barcode localization.