Abstract: The data acquisition device comprises a projecting device for projecting the light emitted by a radiation source onto a section of a marked surface, and an optical unit for recording and reproducing the reflected light on a screen sensor converting the reflected light into a sequence of electronic signals. Furthermore, the data acquisition device has a motion detector for generating synchronizing signals in the presence of a movement parallel with the marked surface, as well as a signal processing unit converting the signals of the screen sensor into information packets containing independently of the character code the alphanumerical, graphic or pictured information of a freely selectable part of the marked surface, and recallably storing such information packets in a memory unit.