Python - Detect a QR code from an image and crop using OpenCV

Question

I\'m working on a project using Python(3.7) and OpenCV in which I have an Image(captured using the camera) of a document with a QR code placed on it.

This QR code ha

Answer 1

Here's a simple approach using thresholding, morphological operations, and contour filtering.

1. Obtain binary image. Load image, grayscale, Gaussian blur, Otsu's threshold

2. Connect individual QR contours. Create a rectangular structuring kernel with cv2.getStructuringElement then perform morphological operations with cv2.MORPH_CLOSE.

3. Filter for QR code. Find contours and filter using contour approximation, contour area, and aspect ratio.

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Detected QR code

Extracted QR code

From here you can compare the QR code with your reference information

Code

import cv2
import numpy as np

# Load imgae, grayscale, Gaussian blur, Otsu's threshold
image = cv2.imread('1.jpg')
original = image.copy()
gray = cv2.cvtColor(image, cv2.COLOR_BGR2GRAY)
blur = cv2.GaussianBlur(gray, (9,9), 0)
thresh = cv2.threshold(blur, 0, 255, cv2.THRESH_BINARY_INV + cv2.THRESH_OTSU)[1]

# Morph close
kernel = cv2.getStructuringElement(cv2.MORPH_RECT, (5,5))
close = cv2.morphologyEx(thresh, cv2.MORPH_CLOSE, kernel, iterations=2)

# Find contours and filter for QR code
cnts = cv2.findContours(close, cv2.RETR_EXTERNAL, cv2.CHAIN_APPROX_SIMPLE)
cnts = cnts[0] if len(cnts) == 2 else cnts[1]
for c in cnts:
    peri = cv2.arcLength(c, True)
    approx = cv2.approxPolyDP(c, 0.04 * peri, True)
    x,y,w,h = cv2.boundingRect(approx)
    area = cv2.contourArea(c)
    ar = w / float(h)
    if len(approx) == 4 and area > 1000 and (ar > .85 and ar < 1.3):
        cv2.rectangle(image, (x, y), (x + w, y + h), (36,255,12), 3)
        ROI = original[y:y+h, x:x+w]
        cv2.imwrite('ROI.png', ROI)

cv2.imshow('thresh', thresh)
cv2.imshow('close', close)
cv2.imshow('image', image)
cv2.imshow('ROI', ROI)
cv2.waitKey()     

Answer 2

So, you mainly have 3 problems here.

1. If the image is rotated with an angle \theta,
2. If the sheet is one a plane. (i.e., in the images, the upper line doesn't seem to be linear. But it should not be a big deal.)
3. The black borders. Will you always have those or may it be a different background? This is important because without cropping out those, you won't be able to get a reasonable result.

I improved your code a little bit and removed the border pixels:

import cv2
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt    
import math
import numpy as np

image = cv2.imread('/Users/samettaspinar/Public/im.jpg')

qrCodeDetector = cv2.QRCodeDetector()
decodedText, points, _ = qrCodeDetector.detectAndDecode(image)
qr_data = decodedText.split(',')
qr_size = int(qr_data[0])
top = int(qr_data[1])
right = int(qr_data[2])
bottom = int(qr_data[3])
left = int(qr_data[4])

print(f'Size: {qr_size}' + str(qr_data[5]))
print(f'Top: {top}')
print(f'Right: {right}')
print(f'Bottom: {bottom}')
print(f'Left: {left}')

plt.imshow(image)
plt.show()

dists = [] #This is for estimating distances between corner points.
           #I will average them to find ratio of pixels in image vs qr_size  
           #in the optimal case, all dists should be equal

if points is not None:
    pts = len(points)
    for i in range(pts):
        p1 = points[i][0]
        p2 = points[(i+1) % pts][0]

        dists.append(math.sqrt((p1[0]-p2[0])**2 + (p1[1]-p2[1])**2))

        print('line', tuple(p1), tuple(p2))
        image = cv2.line(image, tuple(p1), tuple(p2), (255,0,0), 5)
else:
    print("QR code not detected")

print('distances: ', dists)


# Remove the black border pixels. I had a simple idea for this
# Get the average intensity of the gray image
# If count the row average of the first half that are less than intensity/2. 
# It approx gives number of black borders on the left. etc.  
gray = cv2.cvtColor(image, cv2.COLOR_BGR2GRAY)
inten = np.mean(gray)

x = np.mean(gray, axis=0) # finds the vertical average
y = np.mean(gray, axis=1) # finds horizontal average

bl_left = np.sum([x[:int(col/2)] < inten/2])
bl_right = np.sum([x[int(col/2)+1:] < inten/2])

bl_top = np.sum([y[:int(row/2)] < inten/2])
bl_bottom = np.sum([y[int(row/2)+1:] < inten/2])

print('black margins: ', bl_left, bl_right, bl_top, bl_bottom)

# Estimate how many pixel you will crop out
ratio = np.mean(dists)/ int(qr_size)
print('actual px / qr_size in px: ', ratio)

row,col,dim = image.shape

top, left, right, bottom = int(top*ratio), int(left*ratio), int(right*ratio), int(bottom*ratio)
top += bl_top
left += bl_left
right += bl_right
bottom += bl_bottom

print('num pixels to be cropped: ', top, left, right, bottom)

gray = cv2.cvtColor(image, cv2.COLOR_BGR2GRAY)
image2 = image[top:row-bottom, left:col-right, :]

plt.imshow(image2)
plt.show()

Notice that I ignored the rotation issue. If there is rotation, you can find the angle by calculating the tangents/arctan where I calculated the distances.

Answer 3

I got the width and height data using points and compare it with the qr_data size. Then cropped the QR according to needed.

import cv2
import math  

image = cv2.imread('/ur/image/directory/qr.jpg')

qrCodeDetector = cv2.QRCodeDetector()
decodedText, points, _ = qrCodeDetector.detectAndDecode(image)
qr_data = decodedText.split(',')
qr_size = qr_data[0]
top = qr_data[1]
right = qr_data[2]
bottom = qr_data[3]
left = qr_data[4]

if points is not None:
    pts = len(points)
    print(pts)
    for i in range(pts):
        nextPointIndex = (i+1) % pts
        cv2.line(image, tuple(points[i][0]), tuple(points[nextPointIndex][0]), (255,0,0), 5)
        print(points[i][0])

    width = int(math.sqrt((points[0][0][0]-points[1][0][0])**2 + (points[0][0][1]-points[1][0][1])**2))
    height = int(math.sqrt((points[1][0][0]-points[2][0][0])**2 + (points[1][0][1]-points[2][0][1])**2))

    # Compare the size
    if(width==qr_data[0] and height==qr_data[0]):
        print("Sizes are equal")
    else:
        print("Width and height  " + str(width) + "x" +  str(height) + "  not equal to " 
        + str(qr_data[0]) + "x" + str(qr_data[0]))

    # Add the extension values to points and crop
    y = int(points[0][0][1]) - int(qr_data[1])
    x = int(points[0][0][0]) - int(qr_data[4])
    roi = image[y:y+height + int(qr_data[3]), x:x+width + int(qr_data[2])]
    print(decodedText)    
    cv2.imshow("Image", image)
    cv2.imshow("Crop", roi)
    cv2.waitKey(0)
    cv2.destroyAllWindows()
else:
    print("QR code not detected")

Result: