Woven information bearing devices

A method of reading data from a woven information bearing device, the woven information bearing device comprising a plurality of woven elements:

• wherein the plurality of woven elements is machine woven and comprises a plurality of woven data bearing elements,
• wherein the woven data bearing elements are arranged to form a woven information bearing pattern and a data bearing region,
• wherein each woven data bearing element is coded to represent one data element, a plurality of data elements, or a portion of a data element,
• wherein each said data element represents a data, a data including a data symbol, a data sign or a data value;
• and wherein the woven information bearing device includes a reference frame or a reference grid to facilitate recovery of data in the data bearing region when the woven information bearing device is subject to distortion in the first direction, distortion in the second direction, or distortion in both the first direction and the second direction,
• wherein the reference frame or the reference grid is formed of machine woven weft elements and warp elements,
• wherein the method comprises using the reference frame or the reference grid as an alignment device to facilitate retrieval of data embedded in the data bearing region, and
• wherein the method comprises:
• capturing an image of the woven information bearing device,
• applying a data reading template to retrieve data coded or formed on the woven information bearing pattern, and
• processing the data with reference to the data reading template and displaying result of processing.

An apparatus for retrieving data coded or embedded on a woven information bearing device, wherein the woven information bearing device comprises a plurality of woven elements, the plurality of woven elements being machine woven and comprising a plurality of woven data bearing elements:

• wherein the woven data bearing elements are arranged to form a woven information bearing pattern and a data bearing region,
• wherein each woven data bearing element is coded to represent one data element, a plurality of data elements, or a portion of a data element,
• wherein each said data element represents a data, a data including a data symbol, a data sign or a data value,
• wherein the woven information bearing device includes a reference frame or a reference grid to facilitate recovery of data in the data bearing region when the woven information bearing device is subject to distortion in the first direction, distortion in the second direction, or distortion in both the first direction and the second direction,
• wherein the reference frame or the reference grid is formed of machine woven weft elements and warp elements,
• wherein the microprocessor is to apply the reference frame or the reference grid as an alignment device to facilitate retrieval of data embedded in the data bearing region, and when necessary to restore a distorted woven information bearing device to facilitate retrieval of embedded data for subsequent processing of embedded data and display,
• wherein the apparatus comprises a solid state memory to store an image of the woven information bearing device, and a solid state microprocessor configured to execute stored instructions to recover data or information embedded in the woven information bearing device from the image, and
• wherein the microprocessor is to apply a data reading template to retrieve data coded or formed on the woven information bearing pattern, and to processing the data with reference to the data reading template and to display result of processing.