Information-related devices and methods

A method for reading a position-coding pattern and an information-coding pattern on a surface, wherein the coding patterns include symbols each of which represents at least two different values, wherein the values depend on position information and other information for the position-coding pattern and information-coding pattern, respectively, the method comprising:

• reading a part of the surface and storing the read information in an image;
• determining a first virtual raster with raster points in the image associated with the position-coding pattern and a second virtual raster with raster points in the image associated with the information-coding pattern, wherein the second raster is displaced in relation to the first raster and has a spatial scale different from a spatial scale of the first raster;
• locating a plurality of symbols in the position-coding pattern and information-coding pattern;
• determining a value of each of the plurality of symbols, wherein each symbol of the position-coding pattern is defined by a first raster point in the first virtual raster and at least one first marking, and each symbol of the information-coding pattern is defined by a second raster point in the second raster and at least one second marking;
• separating the position-coding pattern in the image into a first position code for a first coordinate for a partial surface and a second position code for a second coordinate for the partial surface by translating the value of each symbol into at least one first digit for the first position code and at least one second digit for the second position code;
• and
• calculating the first coordinate using the first position code and the second coordinate using the second position code.

A device for reading a position-coding pattern and an information-coding pattern on a surface, wherein the position-coding pattern and the information-coding pattern comprise symbols, each of which represents at least two different values, wherein the values depend on position information and other information for the position-coding pattern and the information-coding pattern, respectively, the device comprising:

• means for reading a part of the surface and storing information read in an image;
• means for determining a first virtual raster with first raster points in the image associated with the position-coding pattern and a second virtual raster with second raster points in the image associated with the information-coding pattern, wherein the second raster is displaced in relation to the first raster and has a spatial scale different from a spatial scale of the first raster;
• means for locating a plurality of symbols in the position-coding pattern and information-coding pattern;
• means for determining a value of each of said plurality of symbols, wherein each symbol in the position-coding pattern is defined by a first raster point in the first raster and at least one first marking and each symbol in the information-coding pattern is defined by a second raster point in the second raster and at least one second marking;
• means for separating the position-coding pattern in the image into a first position code for a first coordinate for a partial surface and a second position code for a second coordinate for the partial surface by translating the value of each symbol into at least a first digit for a first position code and at least a second digit for a second position code;
• and
• means for calculating the first coordinate based on the first position code and the second coordinate based on the second position code.