Data Validation System Using QR Code and Meaningless Reversible Degradation

QR Codes are used as information channel on several cryptographic architectures due to their technical properties, such as data capacity and retrieval reliability. This paper presents a novel string data validation system using QR Codes and meaningless reversible degradation. The proposed scheme exploits reversible degradation properties, using the systematic Berlekamp Reed-Solomon error correction algorithm and the QR Code. This new mechanism encodes up to 388 characters in two information channels: a dynamic version QR Code (channel 1) and a wireless network (channel 2). A byte mode QR Code stores partial corrupted and masked data input bits. Its version size varies between 1 and 11 according the stored data quantity. The wireless channel downloads a previous generated Reed-Solomon redundancy file to correct the QR Code retrieved information and decode the secret message. The QR Code information is meaningless when scanned by a standard QR Code reader. Compared to real-time retransmission data validation systems, the proposed scheme reduces the download data (channel 2) up to 50%.