Method and apparatus for maintaining and locating lost, misplaced or stolen articles
First Claim
1. An apparatus that identifies when a component is removed from a cell comprising:
- at least one reference block positioned a first distance from a local processor;
a boundary of the cell surrounding the local processor is adjusted to align with the first distance; and
a wireless link is established within the cell to couple the component to the local processor, wherein a loss of the wireless link identifies that the component was removed from the cell.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Theft increases the average product cost to consumers. A mentoring system is presented that can help to reduce or prevent the inventory from lost or theft. Theft is a serious concern in the consumer market place. Industry loses billions per year on theft of merchandise. According to a Reuters report, last year, thefts by employees of U.S. retail merchandise accounted for $15.9 billion, or 44 percent of theft losses at stores, more than shoplifting and vendor fraud combined. Thus, the total thief by the customers and store employees during the year 2008 amounted to $36 billion. Several embodiments of ways to control or reduce the thefts in the market place are presented.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. An apparatus that identifies when a component is removed from a cell comprising:
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at least one reference block positioned a first distance from a local processor; a boundary of the cell surrounding the local processor is adjusted to align with the first distance; and a wireless link is established within the cell to couple the component to the local processor, wherein a loss of the wireless link identifies that the component was removed from the cell. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. An apparatus that identifies when a component is removed from a cell comprising:
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the component programmed with a pre-defined output power level; a boundary of the cell surrounding a local processor is determined by the pre-defined power output level; and a wireless link is established within the cell to couple the component to the local processor, wherein a loss of any wireless link identifies that a component was removed from the cell. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An portable hand held system apparatus comprising:
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at least one component; an energy transfer unit remotely powering the component; a wireless link is formed between the component and the portable hand held unit; an identity of the component is transmitted over the wireless link; a screen displays the identity of the component; the identity of the component is selected on the screen; and the selected component emits a stimulus. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17)
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18. A method of notifying a visual monitoring system to follow a component once the component is outside a cell comprising the steps of:
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using a wireless monitoring system to verify the component is within the cell; wirelessly identifying if the component is removed from the cell; and notifying the visual monitoring system to follow the component outside the cell. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification