Patent ID: 7566009

Claim:
A reading device for reading an interface surface provided on a product item, the reading device including: a harness which is configured to tight fittingly receive at least a portion of a user's hand; a housing coupled to the harness, the housing including a void configured to tight fittingly receive therewithin a finger tip portion of a finger of the user's hand received within the harness, the housing including an aperture in a wall of the housing which is located, in use, adjacent the underside of the finger tip portion of the finger; a radiation source for illuminating the interface surface, the radiation source being strobed, the interface surface having disposed thereon coded data indicative of an identity of the product item, the coded data being disposed on or in a substrate in accordance with at least one layout, the layout having at least order n rotational symmetry, where n is at least two, the layout including n identical sub-layouts rotated 1/n revolutions apart about a center of rotational symmetry of the layout, the coded data disposed in accordance with each sub-layout including rotation-indicating data that distinguishes the rotation of that sub-layout from the rotation of at least one other sub-layout within the layout; a sensor provided in the housing for sensing at least some of the coded data through the aperture, the sensing of coded data being synchronised with the strobing of the radiation source; and a processor for decoding at least some of the sensed coded data, and for determining product identity data indicative of the identity of the product item.