A laser beam cuts through a component carrier mask made of thin elastomeric material such as silicone rubber to form slots having slot openings of a desired shape. The communication module is configured to communicate via a first channel and a second channel. The method then sends, through a network, the request for the item to an auctioneer machine server. The operation modes include a specific scanning ray mode in which reading the mark by tracing only a given scan trajectory constituting the scanning pattern is validated but reading the mark by tracing the other scan trajectories is invalidated. The data converter includes a control circuit for independently controlling the IEEE 1394 protocol and the SCSI protocol.