Commodity information reading apparatus and program

A method for a computer controlling a commodity information reading apparatus to perform the following functions:

• capturing an image of a commodity;
• reading a code symbol associated with the commodity from the image;
• reading an electronic watermark associated with the commodity from the image;
• and
• identifying the commodity appearing in the image based on at least one of a reading result of reading the code symbol and a reading result of reading the electronic watermark.

A commodity information system, comprising:

• a server comprising data of code symbols, electronic watermarks, and commodity images;
• and
• a plurality of commodity information reading apparatuses in communication with the server, each commodity information reading apparatus comprising:
• an imaging component for capturing an image of a commodity;
• a first reader for reading a code symbol associated with the commodity from the image;
• a second reader for reading an electronic watermark associated with the commodity from the image;
• and
• a commodity identification component for identifying the commodity appearing in the image based on at least one of a reading result of the first reader and a reading result of the second reader.