Using QR To Transfer PC State to Mobile

QR codes are being used everywhere as a link from print media to mobile devices.  But perhaps a less obvious, but just as useful, use of the popular 2D barcodes is to transfer state from the laptop or PC onto a mobile device.

Several scenarios come to mind here.  For instance, many commercial websites have a page that displays a map and/or directions so that consumers can easily find them.  Well, why not add a QR code that will send that map directly to their navigation application on their phone?  Here is an example for those multitudes of readers who would like easy directions to Sundog.

But wait, there’s more…

Because QR codes can be dynamically created, it is possible to insert a QR code on a page that saves state, and allows users to transfer their state from a web application to a mobile web application!  Imaging a user is engaged in a multistep wizard, or logged into an application.  By embedding the state parameters in the URL, we can send users to the same point in the wizard, or log them into the same application (or better yet a mobile version of it) when the view is transfered to the mobile device.

Dynamically generating QR codes is easy with the Google Chart APIs.  Try it yourself.  Copy and paste the following url into a new window.
http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=qr&chs=350x350&chl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sundog.net
Now change the part in red to whatever url you want.  And that’s it - you’ve generated a QR code that links to that url.  Putting this functionality in a web application is both trivial and useful.