Method and system to negate interference from adjacent transmitters in an electronic article surveillance system

A method for reducing interference in an electronic article surveillance (“EAS”) system, the EAS system including a detection zone, the method comprising:

• receiving a plurality of signals, each signal having a corresponding amplitude;
• determining that the amplitude of at least one received signal exceeds a predetermined threshold;
• discarding the at least one received signal that is determined to have an amplitude that exceeds the predetermined threshold;
• and
• determining whether an EAS tag is present in the detection zone by considering only the non-discarded signals.

An electronic article surveillance (“EAS”) system comprising:

• a transmitter operable to transmit interrogation signals to excite an EAS tag within a detection zone;
• a receiver operable to receive a sample pattern of signals, each signal having a corresponding amplitude;
• a memory, the memory including at least one reference pattern of transmission windows for an interfering EAS system, the at least one reference pattern indicating a sequence of time slots for which the interfering EAS system is transmitting;
• and
• a controller electrically coupled to the transmitter, the receiver, and the memory, the controller operable to:
• compare the received sample pattern to the at least one reference pattern;
• and
• responsive to determining that the received sample pattern matches the at least one reference pattern, using the at least one reference pattern to trim samples received during receive windows corresponding to the time slots for which the interfering EAS system is transmitting.