The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 25, 2006
Filed:
May. 17, 2004
Eric Eckstein, Merion Station, PA (US);
Gary T. Mazoki, Sewell, NJ (US);
William S. Richie, Jr., Pennsville, NJ (US);
Eric Eckstein, Merion Station, PA (US);
Gary T. Mazoki, Sewell, NJ (US);
William S. Richie, Jr., Pennsville, NJ (US);
Checkpoint Systems, Inc., Thorofare, NJ (US);
Abstract
A tracking system uses RFID (radio frequency identification) tag technology to facilitate the identification and tracking of items in an environment through a technique known as shadowing. As an object or target moves within a pre-described detection zone with communicating antenna and RFID sensors, the object or target blocks the line of sight between respective antenna and sensors, preventing electromagnetic coupling between the sensor and the antenna and thus casting an electromagnetic shadow along the line of sight. One approach of this invention uses this shadow technique to perform functions such as theft (shrink) deterrence/detection; tracking the motion of objects through an environment by monitoring the shadow; and correlation analysis of people shadows to tagged items (e.g., merchandise, articles) to foster marketing and merchandizing effectiveness.