Method of making deactivatable tags

• US 4,802,944 A
• Filed: 03/28/1988
• Issued: 02/07/1989
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/1986
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sensormatic Electronics Corporation (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Original Assignee: Monarch Marking Systems, Inc. (Avery Dennison Corporation)
• Inventors: Benge, S. Eugene
• Primary Examiner(s): Dawson, Robert A.
• Application Number:
  US07/177,815
• Time in Patent Office: 316 Days
• Field of Search: 156/52, 156/155, 156/247, 156/269, 156/272.2, 156/273.9, 333/185, 340/572, 361/402
• US Class Current: 156/247
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0672 with resonating marks
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/242 Tag deactivation
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2437 Tag layered structure, processes for making layered tags
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/244 Tag manufacturing, e.g. continuous manufacturing processes
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2442 Tag materials and material properties thereof, e.g. magnetic material details
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/702 of thick-or thin-film circuits or parts thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/165 incorporating printed inductors
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2203/0522 Using an adhesive pattern
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2203/1545 Continuous processing, i.e. involving rolls moving a band-like or solid carrier along a continuous production path
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 3/046 by selective transfer or selective detachment of a conductive layer
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 3/202 using self-supporting metal foil pattern
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 156/1084 of continuous or running length bonded web

Abstract

This invention relates to a deactivatable tag useable with an electronic article surveillance system and comprised of planar conductive material cut into a pair of inverse, first and second spiral conductors wrapped about each other and positioned for capacitive and inductive coupling. The invention also relates to method of making tags wherein conductors are cut from a planar web of conductive material in a continuous process in a manner that the cutting results in the formation of two spiral conductors without accompanying waste of conductive material, and thereafter positioning the conductors to provide resonant circuits.

Claims

1. Method of making tags for use in an electronic article surveillance system, comprising the steps of:

providing a first web having a series of longitudinally recurring first patterns of adhesive, providing a second web having a series of longitudinally recurring second patterns of adhesive, cutting a web of conductive material to form longitudinally recurring pairs of first and second contiguous, coplanar, spiral conductors wrapped about each other, wherein the cutting step includes the step of completely severing each pair from the longitudinally adjacent pair, the first and second webs being positioned on opposite sides of the conductive material web with the first adhesive patterns in contact with only the first conductors and with the second adhesive patterns in contact with only the second conductors, separating the first web with the first conductors adhered thereto and the second web with the second conductors adhered thereto from each other, thereafter positioning the first and second conductors into a related arrangement for capacitive and inductive coupling, wherein each arrangement of first and second conductors is spaced from each adjacent arrangement of first and second conductors, providing a separate deactivator for each said arrangement with the deactivators being longitudinally spaced and with each deactivator including electrically conductive material, connecting the related first and second conductors to provide a composite tag web of a series of tags each having a resonant circuit, and whereby accidental deactivation of one resonant circuit in the composite tag web does not effect deactivation of any other resonant circuit spaced longitudinally thereform in the composite tag web.

2. Method of making tags for use in an electronic article surveillance system, comprising the steps of:

providing a longitudinally extending web of conductive material, cutting the web of conductive material to form a plurality of sets of conductors with each set having continuous, coplanar, first and second spiral conductors wrapped about each other, wherein the cutting step includes the step of completely severing each set from the longitudinally adjacent set, supporting the first spiral conductors in a first longitudinal extending conductor web, supporting the second spiral conductor in a second longitudinally extending conductor web, separating the first spiral conductor web and the second spiral conductor web from each other, shifting the first spiral conductor web and the second spiral conductor web longitudinally relative to each other to bring the first spiral conductors and the second spiral conductors into related arrangement for capacitive and inductive coupling, wherein each arrangement of first and second conductors is spaced from each adjacent arrangement of first and second conductors, providing a separate deactivator for each said arrangement with the deactivators being longitudinally spaced and with each deactivator including electrically conductive material, connecting the related first and second conductors to provide a series of tags each having a resonant circuit, and wherein accidental deactivation of one resonant circuit in the composite tag web does not effect deactivation of any other resonant circuit spaced longitudinally therefrom in the composite tag web.

3. Method of making a deactivatable tag for use in an electronic article surveillance system, comprising the steps of:

providing a first web with a first series of longitudinally spaced first spiral conductors and a second web with a series of longitudinally spaced second spiral conductors, providing spaced strips of conductive material having a layer of normally non-conductive material, positioning the strips with the normally non-conductive layer adjacent either the first or the second series of conductors, adhering the first and second webs to each other, connecting the conductors of the first and second webs to each other to provide a series of spaced resonant circuits in a composite web and there being one of said strips for each resonant circuit, separating the composite web into tags each having a first conductor and a second conductor coupled to each other, and wherein the normally non-conductive layer can be rendered conductive in response to an energy level higher than that level necessary to activate the tag.

4. Method of making a deactivatable tag for use in an electronic article surveillance system, comprising the steps of:

providing a first longitudinally extending web, printing conductive material on the first web, printing non-conductive material on the first web over the conductive material, providing discontinuities in the conductive material and the non-conductive material printed thereover to provide longitudinally spaced strips, providing a second web, providing longitudinally spaced pairs of first and second spiral conductors positioned between the first and second webs, adhering the webs to each other with pairs of the first and second spiral conductors connected to provide spaced resonant circuits with a strip in contact with each circuit but without contacting any other circuit, wherein the normally non-conductive material can be rendered conductive in response to an energy level higher than that level necessary to activate the tag, and separating the webs to provide tags each having a deactivatable circuit.