HK1188008A - Electronic article surveillance - Google Patents

Description

Electronic article surveillance

Technical Field

The present invention generally relates to electronic monitoring systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to an electronic tag-based monitoring system that does not require authentication and database querying operations.

Background

Electronic tags, such as Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) tags or Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, have been widely used in retail checkout or inventory control to prevent theft and/or unauthorized transfer of the merchandise from the retail store. Typically, these tags are attached to the articles to store information describing the attached articles, to help track the movement of the articles and to update inventory records. There is a need to combine inventory use with EAS to avoid the need to inventory RFID tags and separate EAS devices.

One monitoring scheme is based on information stored inside the tag to identify the attached item at the exit gate. For example, a database may be maintained to represent the current inventory of the store and queried to tell whether the item has been sold. However, this solution may require a very high speed database to be effective, so that the counter operation can be started within a fraction of a second, preventing the transfer of goods that are too slow to warrant unsold. The database must also be kept in real time with possibly many point-of-sale terminals to within a few seconds.

Alternatively, the status bit may be stored in the tag to indicate whether the item has been sold and updated accordingly at the checkout register. However, this status bit does not distinguish between tags in the store's inventory and foreign tags brought into the store that may not be properly deactivated at another store, thus triggering a "false positive" alarm, which results in difficult information handling.

Another method for EAS protection includes permanently "deleting" or disabling information in the tag at the point of sale. If irreversible changes are made to the tag, there is a possibility that an attacker may maliciously destroy the usefulness of the tag. In addition, password protection may then be required to update the status bit, or to delete the tag, or to permanently mark the tag as sold. As a result, a database is still needed to provide an inventory database and a password database for monitoring methods based on the status bit or other permanent changes to the tag. Such a database providing passwords may be undesirable due to the need to maintain information from different suppliers of marked items and the difficulties associated with: at the point of sale, the tag interacts, a password is obtained and used to access the permissions at the tag, and then the memory of the tag is changed appropriately, all during the instant the tag is illuminated by the beam of the reader at the point of sale.

Thus, existing electronic monitoring systems do not provide practical solutions that do not require a fast database and/or password authentication.

Disclosure of Invention

In one embodiment, a method for electronic article surveillance of items in a store utilizing RFID tags is provided. An RFID tag may include a multi-bit section of memory, such as EAS (electronic article surveillance) memory, that is both readable and writable without the use of a password. A retailer may write a particular number as an in-stock number into the EAS memory of all tags attached to items in the retailer's store inventory. The specific number may be selected to be distinguished from such numbers in other stores. At the point of sale, for example, when an item is purchased, the EAS memory may be changed to some other number different from the numbers in the inventory. At the exit gate, an RFID reader may be provided to scan the in-inventory numbers in the EAS memory. Any tag at the exit gate that still has the in-inventory number in the EAS memory may indicate a potentially stolen item.

In another embodiment, the identifier number stored in the RFID tag may be read by an RFID reader to describe the item attached to the tag. The identifier number may be provided along with an alarm indication if the attached item is detected by the RFID reader as being a potentially stolen item. If the tag is returned to a particular store by a customer, the EAS memory in the tag may be reprogrammed with the number in inventory of the particular store and placed back in inventory. If the EAS memory of the items is maliciously or accidentally changed, the items can simply be rewritten with the numbers in the inventory, thus limiting the potential damage to the tagged inventory. In order to steal items, tag readers will have to be used in stores to write to tags by RF signals or transmissions, and these signals can be monitored to capture these activities.

In another embodiment, a portion (or area) of the note memory (or storage area) is maintained in the RFID tag or electronic label to store an identifier (e.g., a number, string, alphanumeric symbol, or other symbol) that represents the status or condition of the item or item attached (or affixed) to the label. For example, the status may indicate that the item is still in stock or has been sold. This portion of the note storage may permanently disable password or authentication protection to allow free and unrestricted access (e.g., read/write/update) from another device at any time. At the time of sale, the portion of memory may be updated (or written) with a separate identifier (e.g., a different number) indicating that the item associated with the tag is no longer in inventory. When the item is removed from the inventory, the portion of the non-lockable storage of the tag may be inspected (or read) to verify that the item has indeed been sold, or to otherwise trigger an alarm.

Embodiments of the present invention include a method and apparatus for activating an electronic tag having an identifier through open access to a memory area of the electronic tag. The identifier can identify or represent an inventory comprising a plurality of items. The electronic tag is attached to one of the articles. The electronic tag may be active if the identifier is stored in a storage area of the electronic tag. In one embodiment, access to the memory area of the electronic tag disables password protection. The electronic gate device may be configured to allow the identifier to be retrieved within the electronic gate device without the need to perform a database query operation. When the electronic tag is located in the vicinity of the electronic door apparatus, the electronic tag can be wirelessly checked from the electronic door apparatus without performing a database operation or using a password authentication operation, by open access to a storage area of the electronic tag and retrieval of the identifier within the electronic door apparatus. If the check indicates that the electronic tag is active, an alarm may be activated or generated by the electronic gate device.

In an alternative embodiment, the method and apparatus may request that the RFID tag store the identifier from the RFID reader without authentication. The identifier may be stored in the storage area of the RFID tag by freely available access to the storage area without password protection. If the identifier is stored in the storage area, the RFID tag is in an active state. The electronic gate device may be configured with the identifier to allow access to the identifier within the electronic gate device without requiring a database query operation. When the RFID tag is located within the vicinity of the electronic door apparatus, data stored in the RFID tag may be wirelessly retrieved by the electronic door apparatus through access to a storage area of the RFID tag. Whether the RFID tag is in an active state may be determined by an identifier accessed within the electronic door apparatus without performing a database operation. If the retrieved data does not include the identifier, it may be determined that the RFID tag is in an inactive state. An alarm may be triggered by the electronic door device if the determination indicates that the RFID tag is in an activated state.

Other features of the present invention will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and from the detailed description that follows.

Drawings

The present invention is illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like references indicate similar elements, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a system diagram illustrating one embodiment of merchandise monitoring without password protection based on an identifier stored in an RFID tag;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of system components for merchandise monitoring that do not require database operations;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of a process for electronic monitoring described herein;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating another embodiment of a process for electronic monitoring described herein;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating another embodiment of a process for electronic monitoring by a reader device described herein;

FIG. 6 illustrates one example of a typical identifier system that may be used in conjunction with the embodiments described herein;

FIG. 7 illustrates one example of a data processing system that may be used with one embodiment of the wireless identifier device of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Methods and apparatus for electronic monitoring that do not require database and authentication operations are described herein. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough explanation of embodiments of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that embodiments of the invention can be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known components, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure the understanding of this description.

Reference in the specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment can be included in at least one embodiment of the invention. The appearances of the phrase "in one embodiment" in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.

The processes illustrated below are performed by processing logic that comprises hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a general purpose computer system or a dedicated machine), or a combination of both. Although the processes are described below in terms of some sequential operations, it should be appreciated that some of the operations described may be performed in a different order. Further, some operations may be performed concurrently rather than sequentially.

The terms "host," "device," "interrogator," and "tag" are intended to refer to data processing systems generally and not to refer to a particular form of factor.

According to one embodiment, password protection, authentication procedures and database operations can be eliminated so that the electronic monitoring system can be easily deployed in a practical and cost-effective manner. Whether an item attached to an electronic tag (e.g., an RFID tag) is being removed from inventory (e.g., stolen) without being electronically authenticated can be detected in real time without the need for potentially costly operations, such as retrieving a password (or authentication data) via a database query and/or performing an authentication step via the retrieved password.

In one embodiment, the electronic tag may be configured with a specific portion of a memory area or memory (e.g., a scratch pad memory) that allows unprotected free access, such as operations for read, write, update, erase, check, or other applicable data check/change instructions. A specific code may be stored in a specific portion to indicate whether the article attached to the electronic tag is currently in stock (e.g., sold). For example, each item or article in a store may be tagged with a tag that stores the same code that identifies the store.

A device wirelessly coupled (e.g., radio frequency based) to the tag may initiate data read/write operations to access a particular portion configured within the freely accessible tag without requiring a password or other authentication. For example, at an exit point of inventory, a gate device may wirelessly scan the tag to check whether a particular code or other applicable data or value is stored in a particular portion (e.g., a predetermined address). When a specific portion of the tag is tampered with or illegally changed (e.g., by an illegal RFID reader/writer device), the specific code can be restored by storing again the specific code without permanent damage to the tag.

A separate storage portion may be allocated within the tag to store or record information identifying, for example, details about the attached item. For example, the details regarding the attached item may include a product category, a serial number, or other applicable item identification data. As a result, in a monitoring system, tracking of missing items and/or sold items is allowed to maintain tracking of inventory, which is able to retrieve or read data including item details from attached tags without the need to use any database or password.

In some embodiments, additional information, such as a timestamp indicating the time of sale, may be written to the tag by, for example, a point-of-sale device at a checkout check-in counter to provide additional information for verifying whether the authority should be notified when an item attached to the tag is detected as about to be removed from inventory.

In one embodiment, a large value (e.g., 64, 96, 128 or other applicable number of bits in length) may be chosen as the identifier to represent the inventory (or store) to significantly reduce the likelihood of two stores sharing a common store identifier. Each item or item in the store may be accompanied by an RFID tag that stores a freely accessible identifier (e.g., at a particular memory address of the RFID tag) independent of time, place, and access device. The RFID tag may be updated by the point-of-sale device to erase the identifier or to store a different value at a particular memory address without requiring the point-of-sale device to perform costly database lookup and password matching operations.

At the exit gate of the store, the value of the particular memory address of the RFID tag may be checked by the gate device to determine whether the identifier is still stored at the particular memory address of the RFID tag. If the door device detects an identifier at a particular memory address of the RFID tag, an alarm message may be issued immediately (e.g., within seconds or fractions of seconds) to allow sufficient time to intercept the attached merchandise. For example, the check may be performed efficiently without the need for a door device or RFID tag to perform database and/or authentication operations. A large value for the representative identifier may reduce the number of possible conflicts, thereby reducing false alarms generated by conflicting identifiers assigned to different stores.

In particular embodiments, the RFID tag may include a rewritable memory for storing numbers for inventory of participating items. For example, a first multi-bit number may be transmitted to a plurality of RFID tags attached to items to establish inventory from one or more RFID reader devices based on an EPC (electronic product code) Gen (generation) 2 selection command from the reader devices. These tags may store the first number received in the rewritable memory to become part of the inventory. In one embodiment, a tag may update (e.g., set or reset) a flag, such as a SL (selected) flag, to indicate that the tag has participated in inventory. For example, the select command may specify an action to reset the SL flag of the tag to join the inventory. Optionally, the tag may transmit (e.g., wirelessly) an EPC ID (identifier) identifying the tag back to the reader device for processing the inventory (e.g., to store the identity of the tag in the inventory).

At the point of sale of the tagged article, a second number, different from the first multi-bit number, may be stored in the rewritable memory of the tag to indicate that the article is removed from inventory (e.g., the sale is complete). In one embodiment, at an EAS gate that leaves the inventory area, a first number may be transmitted (e.g., by the EAS gate) to the tag for comparison with the number stored in the tag's rewritable memory. Identification information may be obtained (or received) from the tag at the EAS gate to indicate whether the number has changed from the first number based on the comparison. In one embodiment, the identification information may include status or identity data based on, for example, the EPC^TMRadio frequency identity protocol, version 1.1.0, 2005.

In another embodiment, identification information from a tag (e.g., an RFID tag) may be received from the tag only when a possible theft event occurs, such as at an EAS door or an RFID reader device. For example, if a comparison made at the tag between a number stored in the tag's rewritable memory and a detached number received at the tag (e.g., from an EAS gate or an RFID reader device) indicates that the number has not changed from the detached number, the tag may send out identification information. As a result of obtaining the identification information from the tag, a burglar alarm can be activated. For example, by a message from an EAS gate that has received the identification information.

FIG. 1 is a system diagram illustrating one embodiment of merchandise monitoring without password protection based on an identifier stored in an RFID tag. In one embodiment, system 100 may include items (or items) disposed in an inventory area 113 within perimeter 111 (e.g., enclosing a store offering items 117 for sale). The articles 117, 107, 105 may be attached with electronic tags, such as RFID tags 119, 109, 103, respectively, to allow automatic tracking of the articles under different conditions to prevent theft of the articles.

In one embodiment, system 100 may be configured with an identifier to mark inventory within a store (e.g., inside perimeter 111). Each item in the store may be attached with an electronic tag, storing an identifier in a freely accessible storage area within the electronic tag. For example, the RFID tag 119 of the item 117 may include a scratch pad memory (scratchpad memory) to store the identifier. In one embodiment, the FID reader/writer device (or electronic reader or writer device) 115 may store (or write) the identifier into the note by providing the identifier to the instruction tag 119 over the wireless connection 123. The wireless connection 123 may be established in real time when the reader/writer 115 is located within the vicinity of the item 117.

The system 100 may include a point-of-sale device 101 capable of updating the status of an electronic tag attached to an article to indicate that the article has been paid for or sold. For example, point-of-sale device 101 may be located in a checkout register for checkout of item 107 for deactivating the electronic tag. In one embodiment, point-of-sale device 101 may deactivate tag 109 attached to item 107 by erasing the inventory (or store) identifier from the scratch pad memory of tag 109 without the use of a password or other authentication mechanism. Alternatively, a number other than the identifier may be stored in place of the identifier in the tag 109, thereby deactivating the tag 109. When the item of merchandise 107 is checked out, wireless instructions may be sent between the point-of-sale device 101 and the tag 109 over the air (or over the air) established wireless connection 121.

In one embodiment, the system 100 may include an electronic gate device 127 located in a vicinity of an exit of the store perimeter 111. As the article 105 is removed from the store, a wireless connection 109 is automatically established between the tag 103 attached to the article 105 and the electronic gate device 127 to allow a status check of the tag 103 to be made to determine whether the article 105 is allowed to be removed from the store. The electronic gate device 127 can be configured to examine the tags representing the identifiers of the stores and retrieve data from the tags 103 without the need to perform costly database lookup operations or other lookup operations to enable efficient identification of the legitimacy of the passing items 105.

In some embodiments, the data stored in the note portion of the memory of the tag 103 may be freely accessible through the electronic gate device 127, for example, through the wireless connection 109, without the need to present a password or to complete an authentication (or verification) operation. The electronic gate device 127 may detect or identify the status (e.g., activated or deactivated) of the tag 103 attached to the article 105 for a short period of time to effectively prevent illegal diversion of the article 105.

In one embodiment, the electronic gate device 127 may compare the data retrieved from the tag 103 to an identifier configured internally within the device 127. The comparison may indicate the activation status of the tag 103 if the data retrieved from the tag 103 matches the identifier. Upon detecting the activation state of the tag 103 for the article 105, the electronic gate device 127 may initiate an alert message. Alternatively, if the data indicates that the identifier is not stored in the tag 103 of the item 105, the electronic gate device 127 may determine that the tag 103 has been deactivated to an inactive state without activating an alarm.

In one embodiment, the electronic gate device 127 may send data to the tag 103 for comparison with an identifier configured inside the device 127. If the data at the tag 103 matches the identifier, the comparison may indicate the activation state of the tag 103. Upon detecting the activation state of the tag 103 for the article 105, the electronic gate device 127 may initiate an alert message. Alternatively, if the data indicates that the identifier is not stored in the tag 103 of the item 105, the electronic gate device 127 may determine that the tag 103 has been deactivated to an inactive state without activating an alarm.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of system components for merchandise monitoring that do not require database operations. System 200 may include a tag 211 that is capable of establishing a wireless connection (e.g., via a dipole antenna, a loop antenna, and/or other applicable antenna) with an electronic door apparatus 213 via a wireless network 201. The tag 211 may be attached to an article, such as article 105 in FIG. 1. In one embodiment, tag 211 may include a wireless network interface module 203 using, for example, a radio frequency based network interface. Wireless network interface module 203 may periodically broadcast packets to enable a wireless network connection to be established over the air with device 213 when tag 211 and device 213 are located in close proximity to each other (e.g., a few feet or less).

In one embodiment, tag 211 may include tag memory 207 for storing data in a non-volatile or persistent manner. The tag memory 207 may be accessed based on operations performed by the memory access module 205. In one embodiment, tag 211 may include open memory 209 that is freely accessible from other devices (e.g., device 213) without being protected or disabled by a password or authentication mechanism. Thus, any device coupled to tag 211, such as device 213, may be free to perform data read/write/update, etc. operations on open memory 209 through memory access module 205.

In some embodiments, memory access module 205 may be capable of performing a lock operation on a lockable portion of tag memory 207 separate from open memory 209 to prevent access to the lockable portion of tag memory 207 without, for example, matching a password, successful authentication, and/or completing other applicable authentication mechanisms. The memory access module 205 may ignore or deny requests to perform lock operations on the open memory 209.

The electronic gate device 213, such as the device 107 of FIG. 1, may include an identifier provider module 215 to make the identifier available to the tag check module 217 without further performing database query operations or time consuming lookup operations. The identifier may be a number or a string having a fixed number of bits long (e.g., 16 bits, 32 bits, 128 bits, or other applicable number of bits, etc.). In one embodiment, the device 213 may be configured to store the identifier locally. Alternatively, the identifier provider module 215 may retrieve the identifier directly from a separate device coupled to the device 213 as if the identifier were stored locally without performing a database query operation or other time consuming search operation. The tag identifier may be accessed in the device 213 independently of the particular tag coupled to the device 213.

According to some embodiments, the tag checking module 217 may send a request over the wireless network 201 to access data stored in the tag 211. For example, the tag checking module 217 may request to read data stored in the open memory 209 of the tag 211 without transmitting authentication data, such as a password. In response, tag 211 may return data read from open memory 209 to device 213. Tag checking module 217 may match the identifier with the data retrieved from tag 211 by identifier provider module 215 to determine, for example, whether tag 211 has been deactivated. In one embodiment, if the data retrieved from the tag 211 matches or includes the identifier, the tag checking module 217 may determine that the tag 211 has not been deactivated (e.g., is in an active state) and notify the alarm notification module 219 to issue an alarm message or activate an alarm device. Thus, the effectiveness of the alarm can be improved because the time required between establishing the wireless network 201 and issuing the alarm (if needed) for the tag 211 can be reduced without requiring resources spent on performing database operations, password matching, or authentication actions.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of a process for electronic monitoring described herein. For example, process 300 may be performed by some component of an electronic monitoring system (e.g., system 100 of FIG. 1). In block 301, the processing logic of process 300 may activate an electronic tag (e.g., an RFID tag) to store an identifier in a storage area of the electronic tag. Access to the memory area of the electronic tag (e.g., read/write/update/erase/reset or other applicable operations, etc.) may be openly available without requiring or disabling protection from passwords or other authentication mechanisms.

In one embodiment, the electronic tag may be in an activated state or an inactivated state. The electronic tag may be in an activated state if the predetermined identifier is stored in a specific storage area allocated in the electronic tag. A specific memory area of each tag is freely accessible and protected by a forbidden password. The predetermined identifier may be applied to each of the tags attached to items, for example, in a store to represent or identify the store (or inventory).

At block 303, in one embodiment, process 300 of processing logic may configure an electronic gate device, such as device 107 of FIG. 1, with an identifier to allow retrieval of the identifier within the electronic gate device without performing a database query operation. For example, the identifier may be stored in the electronic gate device such that the identifier is locally available without the need to perform a search, lookup query, or other time/resource consuming operation in the electronic gate device.

In block 305, according to one embodiment, the processing logic of process 300 may wirelessly check the electronic tag from the electronic gate when the electronic tag is located within a vicinity of the electronic gate, for example, when an article to which the electronic tag is attached may be about to exit a store area through an exit gate equipped with the electronic gate. The wireless connection between the electronic tag and the electronic door may be automatically established dynamically (e.g., by receiving broadcast packets from the electronic tag) for review.

In one embodiment, the processing logic of process 300 may send an electronic tag data access request, such as a read instruction, to wirelessly retrieve data from the electronic tag for the electronic door. The access request may be automatically authorized in the electronic tag for data stored in a storage area configured to be freely accessible without requiring password protection or authentication operations. The processing logic of process 300 may compare the locally retrieved identifier to the data retrieved from the electronic tag to determine whether the electronic tag is active or inactive without performing a database query operation or a cryptographic authentication operation. If the data does not include or match the identifier, the electronic tag may have been deactivated or in an inactive state. Otherwise, the electronic tag may still be active, indicating that, for example, an article to which the electronic tag is attached should not be allowed to enter the vicinity of the electronic door. At block 307, if the electronic tag is found to be active by the inspection, the processing logic of process 300 may cause an alarm to be activated through the electronic gate device.

In one embodiment, the processing logic of process 300 may send an electronic tag data match request, such as a selection instruction, to compare data wirelessly transmitted from an electronic tag from an electronic gate. The processing logic of the tag may compare the transmitted data with data retrieved from the electronic tag to determine whether the electronic tag is active or inactive. If the data does not include or match the identifier, the electronic tag may have been deactivated or in an inactive state. Otherwise, the electronic tag may still be active, indicating that, for example, an article to which the electronic tag is attached should not be allowed to enter the vicinity of the electronic door. At block 307, if the electronic tag is found to be active by the inspection, the processing logic of process 300 may cause an alarm to be activated through the electronic gate device.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating another embodiment of a process for electronic monitoring described herein. For example, process 400 may be performed by some component of an electronic monitoring system (e.g., system 100 of FIG. 1). At block 401, the processing logic of process 400 may request an RFID tag (or other applicable electronic tag) from an RFID reader and/or writer device to store the identifier without authentication or a password. The identifier may be predetermined to represent a store or inventory.

In one embodiment, the RFID tag may store identifiers representing inventory in a storage area allocated within the tag that is freely available with access that is prohibited from being locked or controlled through an authentication mechanism (e.g., password matching). The RFID tag may be in an activated state if the identifier is stored in the storage area to indicate that the RFID tag has been activated. The activated RFID tag may indicate that the item attached to the RFID tag is currently being tracked as part of the store's inventory.

At block 403, the processing logic of process 400 may configure the electronic gate device with the identifier to allow access to the identifier within the electronic gate device without requiring a database query operation. For example, the identifier may be stored at a predetermined or fixed location or address, such as a memory location, network location, or other addressable destination. Optionally or alternatively, the electronic gate device may retrieve the identifier directly from the broadcast message data to allow the identifier to be readily available to the electronic gate device whenever required.

At block 405, the processing logic of process 400 may wirelessly retrieve data stored in the RFID tag for the electronic door device by access to a storage area in the RFID tag that does not require a password when the RFID tag is located within a vicinity of the electronic door device. Optionally or alternatively, the information retrieved from the tag may be specified by a number in the inventory. At block 407, the processing logic of process 400 may determine whether the RFID tag is in an active state based on the identifier. In one embodiment, access to the identifier within the electronic gate device may be configured to be directly available without costly database operations. If the retrieved data does not correspond to a number in the tag inventory, it may be determined that the RFID tag is in an inactive state. At block 409, if it is determined that the RFID tag is still in an active state, the processing logic of process 400 may generate or trigger an alarm via the electronic gate device.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating another embodiment of a process for electronic monitoring by a reader device as described herein. For example, process 500 may be performed by some component of an electronic monitoring system (e.g., system 100 of FIG. 1). In one embodiment, the processing logic of process 500 may store or configure an inventory number in the RFID reader device, e.g., wirelessly received from a remote server or optically obtained from a barcode tag, at block 501.

In some embodiments, the inventory number may identify an inventory of items attached to the RFID tag. The inventory number may be a multi-bit number capable of representing a plurality of different inventories. In block 503, the processing logic of process 500 may store (or configure) a memory address in the RFID reader device for accessing data or numbers stored in the scratchpad memory or open memory of the RFID tag.

In block 505, in one embodiment, the processing logic of process 500 may send a wireless command to an RFID tag within a vicinity of an RFID reader (or writer) device. The wireless command may specify an inventory number and a memory address to access data or numbers stored at the memory address of the note memory in the RFID tag. Subsequently, at block 507, the processing logic of process 500 may perform a selection operation and/or collect identifiers from the RFID tags to identify which RFID tags store numbers that match the inventory number at the storage address of the note store. For example, the processing logic of process 500 may receive the identifier (if any) within a predetermined period of time after sending the wireless command.

In one embodiment, the RFID tag may compare the received inventory number to a number stored at a memory address of a scratchpad (or open) memory of the RFID tag. If the comparison indicates a match, the FID tag may transmit (e.g., broadcast) the RFID tag's identifier back to the RFID reader. If there is no match, the RFID tag may not transmit a response. If any identifiers are collected from the RFID tags, the processing logic of process 500 may send an alarm message (e.g., an EAS alarm message) to activate the alarm.

FIG. 6 illustrates one example of a typical identifier system that may be used in conjunction with the embodiments described herein. For example, system 600 may be implemented as part of the system shown in FIG. 2. The data processing system 600 shown in fig. 6 includes a processing system 611, which may be one or more microprocessors, or which may be a system on a chip integrated circuit, and the system also includes a memory 601 for storing data and programs for execution by the processing system.

The system 600 also includes one or more wireless transceivers 603 for communicating with another data processing system. The wireless transceiver may be an RF transceiver for an active RFID network. An antenna system 605 may be coupled to the wireless transceiver 603. In addition, system 600 may optionally include a power supply 607. The power source may be a built-in battery or a replaceable battery. In one embodiment, power source 607 may be based on solar energy or driven by an external energy source. It will be appreciated that other elements not shown may also be part of system 600 in certain embodiments, and that fewer components than shown in FIG. 6 may also be used in a data processing system in certain embodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates one example of a data processing system that may be used with one embodiment of the wireless identifier device of the present invention. For example, system 700 may be implemented as part of the system shown in fig. 1. Note that while fig. 7 illustrates components of a computer system, it is not intended to represent any particular architecture or manner of interconnecting the components as such details are not germane to the present invention. It will also be appreciated that network computers and other data processing systems which have fewer components or perhaps more components may also be used with the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 7, system 700, which is one form of data processing system, includes a bus 703 coupled to a microprocessor 705, a ROM (read only memory) 707, a volatile RAM709, and a non-volatile memory 711. The microprocessor 705 can retrieve instructions from the memory 707, 709, 711 and execute the instructions to perform the operations described above. The bus 703 interconnects these various components together and also interconnects these components 705, 707, 709, and 711 to a display controller and display device 713 and to peripheral devices such as an input/output (I/O) device 715, which may be a mouse, keyboard, modem, network interface, printer, and other devices as are well known in the art. Typically, the input/output devices 715 are coupled to the system through an input/output controller 717. Volatile RAM (random access memory) 709 is typically implemented as dynamic RAM (dram), which continuously requires power to refresh or maintain the data in the memory.

Further, a wireless transceiver 719 may be coupled to bus 703 to provide an interface to a wireless network. The wireless transceiver 719 may be a Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver (e.g., an RF transceiver for an RFID wireless network) or a Wi-Fi transceiver for an IEEE802 based wireless network. The transceiver 719 can be coupled to an antenna system 721.

The mass memory 711 is typically a magnetic hard drive or a magnetic optical drive or an optical drive or a DVDRAM or a flash memory or other type of memory system that maintains data (e.g., large amounts of data) even when power is removed from the system. Typically, the mass memory 711 will also be a random access memory, although this is not required. Although FIG. 7 shows that the mass storage 711 is a local device coupled directly to the other components in the data processing system, it will be appreciated that the present invention may utilize a non-volatile memory which is remote from the system, such as a network storage device which is coupled to the data processing system through a network interface, such as a modem or Ethernet interface or a wireless network interface. The bus 703 may include one or more buses connected to each other through various bridges, controllers and/or adapters as is well known in the art.

Portions as described above may be implemented using logic circuits (e.g., dedicated logic circuits) or using a microcontroller or other form of processing chip that executes program code instructions. Such processes, as taught by the discussion above, may be performed with program code, such as machine-executable instructions, that cause a machine that executes these instructions to perform particular functions. In this context, a "machine" may be a machine that converts intermediate form (or "abstract") instructions into processor-specific instructions (e.g., an abstract execution environment, such as a "virtual machine" (e.g., a JAVA virtual machine), a translator, a common language runtime, a high-level language virtual machine, etc.), and/or electronic circuitry disposed on a semiconductor chip (e.g., transistor-implemented "logic circuitry") designed to execute instructions, such as a general-purpose processor and/or a special-purpose processor. Processes taught by the discussion above may also be performed by (in the alternative to a machine or in combination with a machine) electronic circuitry designed to perform the processes (or portions thereof), without the need to execute program code.

The article of manufacture may be used to store program code. An article of manufacture that stores program code may be embodied as, but is not limited to, one or more memories (e.g., one or more flash memories, random access memories (static, dynamic or other)), optical disks, CD-ROMs, DVD ROMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards or other type of machine-readable media suitable for storing electronic instructions. Program code may also be downloaded from a remote computer (e.g., a server) to a requesting computer (e.g., a client) by way of data signals embodied in a propagation medium (e.g., via a communication link (e.g., a network connection)).

The preceding detailed description has been presented in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the tools used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally, conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of operations leading to a desired result. The operations are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like.

It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the above discussion, it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizing terms such as "processing" or "computing" or "calculating" or "determining" or "displaying" or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system's registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices.

The present invention also relates to an apparatus for performing the operations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise a general purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, such as, but is not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), RAMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, and each coupled to a computer system bus.

The processes and displays presented herein are not inherently related to any particular computer or other apparatus. Various general-purpose systems may be used with programs in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may prove convenient to construct a more specialized apparatus to perform the operations described. The required structure for a variety of these systems will appear from the description above. In addition, the present invention is not described with reference to any particular programming language. It will be appreciated that a variety of programming languages may be used to implement the teachings of the invention as described herein.

The foregoing discussion merely describes some illustrative embodiments of the present invention. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from such discussion, the accompanying drawings and the claims that various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims (30)

1. An electronic monitoring method, comprising:

activating an electronic tag having an identifier by accessing a storage area of the electronic tag, wherein the electronic tag is considered to be activated or deactivated depending on whether the identifier is stored in an open storage area, wherein the identifier identifies an inventory comprising a plurality of items, wherein the electronic tag is attached to one of the items, and wherein access to the storage area of the electronic tag inhibits password protection;

configuring an electronic gate device to allow retrieval of the identifier within the electronic gate device without performing a database query operation;

wirelessly checking the electronic tag from the electronic gate device by accessing a storage area of the electronic tag and retrieving the identifier within the electronic gate device when the electronic tag is located within a vicinity of the electronic gate device without performing a database query or a password authentication operation; and

generating an alert by the electronic gate device if the check indicates that the electronic tag is active.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic tag includes a memory that includes the memory region, wherein the electronic tag is configured with a plurality of commands for performing access operations on the memory, the commands including a lock command that can specify a portion of the memory to access the portion of the memory with password protection restrictions, and wherein the lock command is ignored if the portion of the memory includes the memory region.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the activating is based on an electronic reader device wirelessly coupled to the electronic tag.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the articles is attached with a separate activated electronic tag that stores the identifier.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the checking comprises:

one or more requests for data stored in said electronic tag when sent from said electronic gate device, said data being freely available through said electronic tag without protection; and

receiving the data from the electronic tag in response to the request, wherein the data indicates whether the identifier is stored in a storage area of the electronic tag.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the electronic tag stores a separate identifier in a separate storage area outside the storage area, the separate identifier identifying the article to which the electronic tag is attached, and wherein the data includes the separate identifier to enable tracking of the article at the electronic gate device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier is stored at a memory address in the electronic gate device, and wherein the retrieving is based on accessing the memory address without requiring a database query operation.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

deactivating the electronic tag from a point of sale device by password-unprotected access to the storage area, wherein the electronic device is deactivated by storing data different from the identifier in the storage area to allow the article to pass through a vicinity of the electronic door device without issuing an alarm.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic tag is activated wirelessly by a dipole antenna of the electronic tag.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic tag is activated wirelessly by a loop antenna of the electronic tag.

11. An electronic monitoring system comprising:

one or more electronic tags separately attached to items in inventory, each electronic tag unprotected providing access to a storage area of the electronic tag, wherein the electronic tag is active or inactive depending on whether the storage area stores an identifier that identifies the inventory;

at least one electronic reader device capable of wirelessly activating the electronic tag without authentication, the electronic tag being activated to become activated; and

at least one electronic gate device located at a location to defend the inventory, wherein the electronic gate device is configured with the identifier to

Detecting whether the electronic tag is active when the electronic tag is within a vicinity of the location, and

providing an alert notification if the electronic tag within the vicinity of the location is active.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the detecting comprises:

wirelessly retrieving data from a memory area of the electronic tag without requiring authentication data from the electronic door device by accessing the memory area of the electronic tag.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

retrieving said identifier in said electronic gate device without performing database operations; and

comparing the retrieved identifier with data from a memory area of the electronic tag, wherein the electronic tag is active if the comparison indicates that the data includes a copy of the retrieved identifier.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the electronic tag includes a memory that includes the memory region, wherein the electronic tag is configured with a plurality of commands for performing access operations on the memory, the commands including a lock command that can specify a portion of the memory to access the portion of the memory with password protection restrictions, and wherein the lock command is ignored if the portion of the memory includes an open memory region.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the access operation comprises accessing the storage area without password protection to read and write data.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the retrieving comprises:

sending one or more requests from the electronic gate device for data stored in the electronic tag, the data being freely available through the electronic tag without protection; and

receiving the data from the electronic tag in response to the request, wherein the data indicates whether the identifier is stored in a storage area of the electronic tag.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the electronic tag stores a separate identifier in a separate storage area outside of the storage area, the separate identifier identifying the article to which the electronic tag is attached, and wherein the data includes the separate identifier to enable tracking of the article at the electronic gate device.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the identifier is stored at a memory address in the electronic gate device, and wherein the retrieving is based on accessing the memory address without requiring a database query operation.

19. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

at least one point of sale device configured to allow the item to be removed from the inventory, the point of sale device configured to:

deactivating the electronic tag without password protection by accessing the storage area, wherein deactivating the electronic tag to store data different from the identifier in the storage area allows the item to pass through a vicinity of the electronic door device without issuing an alarm.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein at least one of the electronic tags includes a dipole antenna, and wherein the electronic tag is wirelessly activated to become activated by the dipole antenna.

21. An electronic monitoring method, comprising:

requesting an RFID (radio frequency identifier) tag to store an identifier from an RFID reader device without authentication, wherein the identifier is stored in a storage area of the RFID tag by accessing a memory, and wherein the RFID tag is in an active state if the identifier is stored in the storage area;

configuring an electronic gate device with the identifier to allow access to the identifier within the electronic gate;

wirelessly retrieving data stored in the RFID tag to the electronic door apparatus by accessing a storage area of the RFID tag when the RFID tag is located within a vicinity of the electronic door apparatus;

determining whether the RFID tag is in an active state, wherein the RFID tag is in an inactive state if the retrieved data does not include the identifier; and

generating an alert by the electronic door device if the determination indicates that the RFID tag is in an activated state.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

updating the RFID tag from a point of sale device without authentication by accessing a storage area of the RFID tag, wherein the RFID tag is updated to be in an inactive state.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the updating writes a separate identifier to a memory area of the RFID tag, wherein the separate identifier is different from the identifier.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the data is retrieved from the RFID tag wirelessly through a dipole antenna of the RFID tag.

25. An electronic monitoring method, comprising:

storing the first multi-bit number into a rewritable memory of one or more RFID (radio frequency identifier) tags;

storing a second number, different from the first multi-bit number, in the rewritable memory at the point-of-sale;

transmitting, at an EAS (electronic article surveillance) gate, the first multi-bit number to one of the RFID tags for comparison with numbers stored in a rewritable memory of the one RFID tag; and

obtaining identification information from the one RFID tag at the EAS gate, the identification information indicating that the number has not been changed from the first multi-bit number at the one RFID tag based on the comparison.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein a burglar alarm is activated by said identification information.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the identification information includes an identifier that identifies the one RFID tag.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the RFID tag includes a SL (selected) tag, wherein the RFID tag is identified by an EPC ID, and wherein storing the first multi-bit number comprises:

transmitting an EPC (electronic product code) Gen (generation) 2 selection command from a reader device to the RFID tag; and

transmitting an EPC ID from the RFID tag to the reader for handling inventory participation.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the select command specifies an action to reset the SL flag of the RFID tag to participate in inventory.

30. An RFID (radio frequency identifier) reader device for electronic monitoring, comprising:

a memory storing executable instructions, an inventory number, and a storage address, the inventory number identifying an inventory and the storage address to access a note storage of RFID tags attached to items in the inventory;

a wireless network interface coupled to one or more of the RFID tags;

a processor coupled to the memory and the wireless network interface to execute instructions from the memory, the processor configured to:

transmitting a command to the one or more of the RFID tags through the wireless network interface, the command specifying the inventory number and the storage address,

collecting identifiers from the one or more of the RFID tags, the identifiers identifying which of the one or more of the RFID tags store numbers that match the inventory number at the storage address of the note store, and

if the identifier is collected, an alarm message is sent to activate an alarm.