Patent ID: 8550366

Claim:
A method for embedding a barcode in a color image, comprising: a first step of determining a barcode-embedding area for embedding a barcode in an original color image, wherein the barcode-embedding area is in a color and brightness domain, which is defined on a chromaticity diagram based on a juxtaposed additive color mixture of colors and is defined based on the total of pixels that cannot be expressed by the juxtaposed additive color mixture in the domain where reading of pixels can be separately carried out by the barcode reader with respect to colors expressible by the display device, which are expressive by a display device and are separately readable by a barcode reader, wherein the barcode-embedding area in an area in which the texture of the original color image is similar to that of the barcode or the barcode-embedding area includes a boundary line between two different color regions; a second step of creating a color image for the code area and a color image for the background area expressing pixel-values of the original color image in the barcode-embedding area using the juxtaposed additive color mixture of colors separately readable by the barcode reader; a third step of creating a color-image-superimposed barcode image by substituting the background area by pixels of the color image for the background area; and a fourth step of embedding the color-image-superimposed barcode image in the barcode-embedding area.