Systems and methods for deactivation of acousto-magnetic electronic article surveillance markers
AssigneeSensormatic Electronics Corporation
InventorsHubert A. Patterson, Thomas Solaski, Ronald B. Easter
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Abstract
Systems and methods for operating a marker. The methods comprise: storing energy collected by an energy harvesting element of the marker; using the stored energy to enable operations of the marker's communications element; receiving, by the marker's communications element, a marker deactivation signal transmitted from an external device; and causing either a resonator to be prevented from receiving transmit bursts emitted from an EAS system, a bias element's magnetic field to be normalized, or a resonator to be physically prevented from vibrating, in response to the marker deactivation signal's reception.
Claims8
A method for operating a marker, comprising:
- storing energy collected by an energy harvesting element of the marker;
- using the stored energy to enable operations of a communications element of the marker;
- receiving, by the marker's communications element, a marker deactivation signal transmitted from an external device;
- and
- in response to the marker deactivation signal's reception, supplying power from the energy harvesting element to a deactivation element of the marker causing a resonator to be prevented from receiving transmit bursts emitted from an Electronic Article Surveillance (“EAS”) system,
- the deactivation element comprising a capacitor coupled to a coil internal to the marker,
- wherein the coil surrounds at least the resonator of the marker, and
- wherein the resonator is prevented from receiving the transmit bursts emitted from the EAS system when the coil is shorted.
A marker, comprising:
- a resonator;
- a bias element;
- a deactivation element comprising a capacitor coupled to a coil internal to the marker wherein the coil surrounds at least the resonator;
- an energy harvesting circuit configured to collect and store energy;
- and
- a communications element coupled to the energy harvesting circuit, and configured to:
- receive a marker deactivation signal transmitted from an external device when enabled by the stored energy, and
- supply a portion of the stored energy to the deactivation element and cause the resonator to be prevented from receiving transmit bursts emitted from an Electronic Article Surveillance (“EAS”) system, in response to the reception of the marker deactivation signal,
- wherein the deactivation element is configured to short the coil to prevent the resonator from receiving the transmit bursts emitted from the EAS system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.