Patent ID: 9298954
Filing Date: 2016-03-29
CPC Classification: G06K,G06Q,G08B

Claim Text:
1. A tag security system, comprising: a security tag attached to an article of merchandise; a plurality of hubs operable to wirelessly communicate with the security tag, at least one of the hubs operable to provide an alarm when the security tag is moved to a predefined area, wherein the tag is operable to select one of the hubs as its primary hub based on a signal strength of a signal received from the selected hub, and wherein each of the hubs is allocated tag communication periods for communicating with security tags according to a time-division multiplexed algorithm such that tag communication periods allocated to the selected hub are non-overlapping with respect to tag communication periods allocated to other hubs of the system; memory external to the security tag for storing product data indicative of the article of merchandise; and logic operable to determine a location of the security tag based on wireless communication between the selected hub and the security tag, the logic further operable to store, in the memory, location data indicative of the determined location of the security tag and to correlate in the memory the location data and the product data, wherein the security tag is operable to transition to a sleep state and to schedule an awakening from the sleep state, based on a timing of one of the tag communication periods allocated to the selected hub, for communicating during the one tag communication period.