Patent ID: 8032321

Claim:
A biosensor for determining a characteristic of a biological sample, comprising: an analysis device having a processor connected to a pattern read device; a sensor element having a multi-layered encoding area with at least a first layer and a second layer, the first layer and the second layer defining at least one pattern that provides encoding information for the analysis device, at least a portion of the second layer being disposed on at least a portion of the first layer, the portion of the second layer being non-coplanar with the portion of the first layer, the portion of the second layer covering the portion of the first layer relative to the pattern read device; where the analysis device and sensor element implement an sample analysis, where the sample analysis has at least one analysis equation; where the pattern read device directly reads the first layer and the second layer to determine the at least one pattern; where the processor determines encoded information responsive to the at least one pattern; where the processor executes the at least one analysis equation according to the encoded information; and where the processor determines a characteristic of a biological sample according to the at least one analysis equation and the encoded information.