Patent ID: 11961158
Assignee: IOTA, LLC
Field: IT methods for management (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 0:
1. A method for item monitoring, the method comprising:
configuring a master-servant controller for communication with a database of items, the database of items including placement locations of the items;
detecting a first placement location of a near field communication (NFC)-enabled item in a first area of a retail environment, via a first sensor located in the first area of the retail environment linking with the NFC-enabled item, wherein the first sensor is in communication with the master-servant controller and the NFC-enabled item is tagged with a unique identifier;
recording the first placement location of the NFC-enabled item into the database according to the unique identifier;
monitoring, by the master-servant controller, the NFC-enabled item for customer lift;
detecting a customer lift of the NFC-enabled item in response to the first sensor failing to link with the NFC-enabled item for a set period of time;
recording the customer lift of the NFC-enabled item into the database;
subsequent to detecting and recording the customer lift, detecting a second placement location of the NFC-enabled item in a second area of the retail environment, via a second sensor located in the second area of the retail environment linking with the NFC-enabled item, wherein the second sensor is in communication with the master-servant controller;
and
recording the second placement location of the NFC-enabled item in the database as a relocation event of the NFC-enabled item, according to the unique identifier.