Patent ID: 7934650

Claim:
A method of maintaining a status of a product item, the product item including an associated interface surface, the interface surface having disposed thereon or therein coded data including a plurality of coded data portions, each coded data portion being indicative of an identity of the product item, the method including, in a sensing device: sensing at least one coded data portion; generating, using the sensed coded data portion, indicating data indicative of the product item identity; and transferring the indicating data to a computer system, the computer system being responsive to the indicating data to update product status information stored in a data store, wherein the interface surface includes at least one region, including coded data indicative of an identity of the at least one region, and wherein the method includes, in the sensing device: sensing the coded data disposed within the at least one region; and generating, using the sensed coded data, indicating data indicative of the region identity.