Abstract:
The invention disclosed provides a system for theft deterrence in a retail establishment having an inventory control system, a set of transceiver enabled storage units, and a set of RFID tags placed on stocked items. A stream of system logs and system alarms is compiled by a centralized computer which executes inventory database updates under normal inventory movement through a typical business cycle. The inventory is tracked from reception, to storage areas, to service areas, to point of sales. The system alerts operations management when abnormal inventory removal is detected. As the inventory moves from storage areas to service areas, the items are associated to a person and tracked until the inventory is properly checked in at its intended destination. The items may be associated to employees via a continuously monitoring video surveillance system, smart card identification system, or RFID tags on each person containing identification and credential information.

Description:
FIELD OF INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates generally to the field of inventory tracking systems and more specifically to the application of RFID tagging technology to affect theft deterrence in restaurants and other retail establishments that serve alcoholic beverages. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Theft deterrence in retail establishments continues to be an ongoing problem regardless of the presence of electronically active surveillance EAS and more recently RFID technology, although both of these technologies have provided real improvement. One class of theft deterrence is that of detecting and controlling shoplifting activity. The art of theft deterrence utilizing RFID technology in the case of shoplifting is well developed with the use of RFID tags embedded into products and embedded into RFID readers, often situated around the retail store and at exit points. Additionally, RFID tags may be fairly easily written to receipts so that systems may correlate purchased products with scanned RFID tags at exit locations. Generally, RFID tagging and reading has been successfully utilized in highly controlled manufacturing environments and in large retail environments to provide inventory tracking systems. 
         [0003]    Another class of theft deterrence is detecting and controlling inventory shrinkage due to employee theft. This is a particularly acute problem in an environment having less control by nature than a retail merchandise store, such an environment being a restaurant or an establishment serving alcoholic beverages. It is not uncommon to encounter a 3% or greater shrinkage of revenue in restaurants or other establishments serving alcoholic beverages such as wine, liquor and beer. The shrinkage of revenue greatly impacts the profit margins and generally creates a difficult employee control situation. One of the issues in that environment is the inherent need for movement of items from stock rooms to bar areas during periods of greatest customer activity. Surveillance of staff and inventory is most difficult at this time of increased customer business. Another situation of interest is when there is no customer activity and a limited number of management staff is on the premises, perhaps before or after hours. Furthermore, employees may hide alcoholic drinks that they are consuming on the premises, so that the stolen property does not get removed from the premises and therefore cannot benefit from the typical retail RFID tag tracking methods. 
         [0004]    There is a demand then for a solution to inventory tracking and control in relation to theft deterrence for retail establishments such as restaurants and bars. 
         [0005]    In a related application of RFID technology, RFID tags can be deployed in credit cards and in fact planted in many devices that people carry with them so that the location and activity of people may be tracked by the careful deployment of RFID readers. For example, it is of interest for security and for marketing purposes to track people&#39;s locations in large events such as conferences, athletic venues or training events. Pertinent to the theft deterrence problem is that RFID tags may be placed in employee badges or uniforms so that employee locations and activities may be monitored. 
         [0006]    What is needed in the less controlled environment of a restaurant or an establishment serving alcoholic beverages is a system that tracks both inventory and personnel and strongly correlates the inventory to the personnel during movement of inventory. 
         [0007]    While RFID tags and readers have been deployed to track inventory in a large variety of situations, the art of systems that track both personnel and inventory simultaneously is not so well developed. 
         [0008]    U.S. Patent Application No. 2006/0187042 discloses an RFID alarm investigation system that includes detecting an activated electronic article surveillance (EAS) tag in an interrogation zone, and reading at least one RFID tag in response to investigate the cause of the activated EAS tag. The invention relates specifically to typical retail store situations wherein a plurality of point of sale stations are situated in front of store exit and wherein the activated surveillance takes place near the exit door. A method for inventory tracking or personnel tracking is not included therein. 
         [0009]    U.S. Pat. No. 7,012,528 to Matthewson, II et al. discloses information preparing a method for use in a retail environment by storing unique correlator values in RFID tags affixed to each item presented for purchase in a point of sale transaction. The purchaser is correlated to the items at the time of the sale. The method utilizes the printing of sales receipts with RFID tags and assumes a typical retail store environment wherein scanners are placed at every exit and there is a high degree of control. Matthewson does not disclose an inventory tracking system or a personnel tracking system. 
         [0010]    Somewhat closer related is U.S. Patent Application No. 2006/0072787 which discloses an inventory control computer associating a tag with a transaction authorizing items to be removed from a location and having RFID readers. The readers transmit the RFID tag locations by time, sending alarms and notifications as required. A restaurant application is suggested but the method is more appropriately applied to a traditional retail store environment and does not address the need for or methods for personnel tracking in relation to inventory. 
         [0011]    U.S. Patent Application No. 2006/0132311 describes the placement of RFID on liquor bottles for associating identification tags with an identifier in each item, teaching the use of readers in conjunction with the tags. However, there is no disclosure of an inventory tracking method or the combination therewith of a personnel tracking method. 
         [0012]    U.S. Patent Application No. 2006/0015408 discloses a personnel activity tracking method in a retail store location by detecting the presence and absence of a merchandise servicer&#39;s RFID tag and transmitting detected result to a central location. Although a method for tracking personnel in the attendance of training events is disclosed, tracking personnel in relation to inventory management or theft deterrence is not described therein. 
         [0013]    A tool tracking subsystem implemented by affixing RFID tags to both tools and personnel associating the tagged items with the person responsible for the item or responsible for the location of the item is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application No. 2007/0018826. While a computer network is disclosed to create a command and control environment, the methods for event correlation including the correlation of tools to personnel and an interrelated system of inventory management is not taught. 
         [0014]    Generally, a need exists for a system and method to track inventory using RFID tags and readers wherein inventory is assigned to a person and systematically tracked by person until such time that the inventory is no longer held by the person. 
       SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
       [0015]    The present invention is a theft deterrence system for a business establishment selling alcoholic beverages. The business establishment has a physical premises with entry and exit doors to the outside. The premises include stock room locations with lockable doors for stocking beverage inventory, bar area locations having entry and exit points for selling beverages from beverage inventory, a holding area location for staging beverage inventory prior to placement in the stock room locations, and employees to sell beverages and to transfer beverage inventory from one location to another location. 
         [0016]    The system comprises a set of RFID tagging devices physically attached to the beverage inventory. Each RFID tagging device contains a unique identifier, such as a SKU number, for each beverage type in the beverage inventory. A set of RFID readers are integrated with the shelves in the stock rooms and bar area locations so that RFID tagging devices are read if the RFID tagging devices are inside the stock rooms or bar areas. A computer system and network connects the sets of RFID readers and a set of point-of-sale (POS) devices. The computer system has an inventory database for storing, querying, and retrieving inventory data. A software program for tracking inventory operates on the computer system. The inventory is tracked by the software program by monitoring messaged data sent from the sets of RFID readers and the POS devices. 
         [0017]    In an alternate embodiment, the system associates an employee to an inventory item using a set of RFID tagging devices attached to the person of each employee. Each employee has a unique identifier stored in the RFID tagging device. RFID readers are placed near the doors to the lockable stock room and placed in proximity to the bar area locations. In this embodiment, employees are associated with tagged inventory when the inventory is removed from the RFID reader enabled shelves. 
         [0018]    In another alternate embodiment, each employee carries a smart card encoded with employee identification and function based credentials. Smart card readers are attached to the doors of the stock rooms and at the entrances of the bar locations. The smart cards are required to unlock the doors to the stock rooms. 
         [0019]    The software program for tracking inventory is further comprised of programmed executable code. The programmed executable code interprets the messaged data and affects changes to the inventory database. In an alternate embodiment, the programmed executable code correlates at least one employee to at least one beverage type identifier from the set of RFID tagging devices. 
         [0020]    The computer system further comprises a display means and a report generating means for displaying reports relating the transfer of inventory from one location to another location. 
         [0021]    The messaged data contains at least a location, a time, a plurality of RFID unique identifiers, and a text field. Furthermore, the messaged data may include together at least one beverage inventory unique identifier from the set of RFID tagging devices and at least one employee unique identifier so as to correlate the employee identifier to the inventory identifiers. 
         [0022]    The messaged data may contain inherent alarm conditions which upon reception by the computer system generate an alert which is communicated to other personnel on the premises. In an alarm condition, alarms are contained in messaged data and serviced by the computer system displaying them on a suitable screen or by creating email messages or cell phone text messages. Upon an alert condition, a continuously monitoring video surveillance system will capture the previous ten minutes of video in the area creating the alarm and send the video file to management. 
         [0023]    The system may further comprise an additional set of RFID readers placed in proximity to bar area locations so that RFID tagging devices are read if the RFID tagging devices are outside the bar area locations and within a range of 0 to 15 feet from the bar area location entry and exit points. This feature of the invention allows for positive identification of items leaving a bar area location versus items having been left in a bar area. 
         [0024]    The system maintains an inventory database made up of numerous tables. The tables include a set of stock room inventory tables containing records of stock room inventory transactions. The database inventory may further include a set of employee inventory tables where each employee inventory table contains records describing beverage inventory held by an employee while being transferred from one location to another. Additional tables include a set of bar inventory tables, a holding area inventory table with records of holding room inventory transactions, a sold inventory table containing records of beverage inventory purchased from the business establishment through a POS device, and a missing inventory table containing records of beverage inventory not accounted for in the other inventory tables of the inventory database. The inventory database may be queried by SQL commands. 
         [0025]    A series of reports may be generated by the computer system. The software for reports displays a report view containing a set of records wherein contiguous events are reported. A list of items sold at the POS device is reported by item identifier, point of sale position, and item count. A set of records sorted by employee identifier, a set of records sorted by location, a set of records describing missing inventory, a set of records describing the quantity of items in stocked inventory, and a set of records describing reorder requirements for inventory can all be displayed as reports. Reorder requirements are the number of items required to be reordered so that stocked inventory is sufficient to meet sales demand. 
         [0026]    The system is described in terms of state machines including enumeration of employee states and transitions, stock room states and transitions, bar area states and transitions and point of sale states and transitions in relation to the bar areas. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         [0027]    The disclosed inventions will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which show important sample embodiments of the invention and which are incorporated in the specification hereof by reference, wherein: 
           [0028]      FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of the flow of beverage inventory through a restaurant. 
           [0029]      FIG. 2  is drawing of the inventory showing the placement of RFID tagging devices. 
           [0030]      FIG. 3  is a use case diagram of the system for inventory tracking of the present invention. 
           [0031]      FIG. 4  is a block diagram of an inventory rack RFID system including a transceiver enables storage system. 
           [0032]      FIG. 5  is a block diagram of the system data structure of the RFID tracking system. 
           [0033]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart diagram of the theft deterrence process where employees carry smart cards or RFID tagged badges of the present invention. 
           [0034]      FIG. 7  is a flowchart diagram of the stock room sign in and sign out method where employees carry smart cards or RFID tagged badges of the present invention. 
           [0035]      FIG. 8  is a flowchart diagram of the check out process for inventory of the present invention. 
           [0036]      FIG. 9  is a flowchart diagram of the CHECKED OUT event servicing method where employees carry smart cards or RFID tagged badges of the present invention. 
           [0037]      FIG. 10  is a flowchart diagram of the check in process for inventory of the present invention. 
           [0038]      FIG. 11  is a flowchart diagram of the bar area inventory management method where employees carry smart cards or RFID tagged badges of the present invention. 
           [0039]      FIG. 12  is a flowchart diagram of a method to track and time out inventory that is checked out. 
           [0040]      FIGS. 13A and 13B  are a flowchart diagram of a bar area service management process where employees carry smart cards or RFID tagged badges of the present invention. 
           [0041]      FIG. 14  is a flowchart diagram of the “end of shift” inventory reconciliation process where employees carry smart cards or RFID tagged badges of the present invention. 
           [0042]      FIG. 15  is a flowchart diagram of the theft deterrence process of the present invention. 
           [0043]      FIG. 16  is a flowchart diagram of a method to track elapsed time of checked out inventory. 
           [0044]      FIG. 17  is a flowchart diagram of a bar area service management process of the present invention. 
           [0045]      FIG. 18  is a report view of an inventory movement report in the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0046]      FIG. 19  is a report view of a POS activity report in the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0047]      FIG. 20  is a drawing of three report views, an employee report view, a location report view and a missing inventory report view in the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0048]      FIG. 21  is a report view of an inventory report in the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0049]      FIG. 22  is a report view of a re-order report in the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0050]    The numerous innovative teachings of the present application will be described with particular reference to the presently preferred embodiments (by way of example, and not of limitation). 
         [0051]    The present invention teaches a system and method for tracking inventory and enabling theft deterrence. The system and method deters employees, customers, or others from the theft of alcoholic beverage containers and similar inventory items in a restaurant or similar environment.  FIG. 1  shows a typical situation wherein premises  10  is a building defined by outer walls  11 , front external doors  12 , and rear external doors  13 . Premises  10  has three stock room areas: wine stock room  21  for storing wine inventory, liquor stock room  23  for storing liquor inventory, and beer stock room  27  for storing beer inventory. Premises  10  further includes two bar areas for selling drinks, first bar area  14  and second bar area  16 . First bar area  14  has at least one point of sale machine, POS  30  and second bar area  16  has at least one point of sale machine, POS  32 . Additionally, premises  10  has a holding area  25  for receiving inventory from outside sources and for staging inventory before transfer to one of the three stock room areas  21 ,  23  and  27 . The remainder of premises  10  will be defined as the floor  9  on which employees and customers move about freely. In particular, employee  5  may transfer inventory from a stock room such as beer stock room  27  to a bar area such as first bar area  14  by walking the inventory across floor  9 . Other employees (not shown) may work in the bar area utilizing POS  30  and POS  32  to affect the sale of inventory to customers. A set of video surveillance cameras networked to the computer system  20  continuously monitor the premises including the stock room areas and the bar areas. 
         [0052]    In an alternate embodiment, a set of smart card scanners are deployed in premises  10 . Smart card scanners are linked to the locks of specific doors. A smart card with appropriate clearance must be used to unlock and pass through these specific doors. As depicted in  FIG. 2 , an employee  40  carries a smart card  41  which can be integrated into the employee&#39;s ID badge. The smart cards are encoded with employee identification information and access credentials. Once an employee enters an area using the smart card, that employee may be associated with the inventory in that area. Stock room smart card scanner  22  is fixed at the door of wine stock room  21  so as to identify employees which enter and exit. Stock room smart card scanner  24  is similarly fixed at the door of liquor stock room  23 ; stock room smart card scanner  28  is similarly fixed at the door of beer stock room  27 . Holding room smart card scanner  26  is fixed at the interior door of holding area  25 . Smart card scanners  18  are placed at rear external doors  13  to control access to the rear of the establishment. First bar area  14  has smart card scanner  15  fixed near the entrance to first bar area  14 . Smart card scanner  17  is fixed near the entrance to second bar area  16 . In an alternate embodiment, smart card scanner  15  is integrated with POS  30  and smart card scanner  17  is integrated with POS  32 . 
         [0053]    In another alternate embodiment, each employee&#39;s identification badge includes an RFID tag. In this embodiment, RFID readers are affixed at the doors of the stock room areas and the bar areas instead of smart card readers. An employee may be associated with the inventory in an area when the RFID reader of that area detects the employee&#39;s presence. 
         [0054]    Inventory is shelved on racks inside stock rooms  21 ,  23 , and  27 ; bar areas  14  and  16 ; and holding area  25 . Rack  31  is located in stock room  21 , rack  33  is positioned in stock room  23 , and rack  37  is resident in stock room  27 . Rack  34  is located in first bar area  14 , rack  35  is positioned in holding area  25 , and rack  36  is in second bar area  16 . The racks are transceiver enabled storage units (TESU) and are each equipped with at least one RFID reader. Each TESU reader has an integrated wireless LAN transmitter and receiver so as to have the capability to report localized RFID tags attached to the inventory. All TESUs and RFID readers and smart card scanners (if present) report to a central computer system  20  for logging reader events and alarms and for maintaining an inventory database. In an alternate embodiment, racks  34  and  35  in the bar areas may be replaced with an RFID patch antenna located in each bar area. The RFID patch antennas are continuously enabled and can generate inventory check in events when an RFID tagged inventory is detected in the bar area. 
         [0055]      FIG. 2  is a drawing indicating how the RFID tagging devices may be attached to inventory and how smart cards or RFID tagged identification badges are carried by employees. Each wine container  33  has an RFID tagging device  34  attached thereto and each liquor container  36  has an RFID tagging device  37  attached thereto. Each case of beer  42  has RFID tagging device  35  attached thereto and each keg of beer  38  has RFID tagging device  39  attached thereto. RFID tags are placed on the inventory in such a way that removal of tags will destroy the tag&#39;s ability to transmit RFID signals. The RFID tagging devices may be attached to the inventory by means of a cable tie having an integrated RFID tag, an RFID tag attached to the side of the bottle with adhesive, or an RFID tag integrated into the bottle label. Various means of attachment may be conceived within alternate embodiments. Also, other inventory besides beverages may also have RFID tags attached. Tags can be applied individually by the receiving personnel at the restaurant/bar or pre-applied to bottles before delivery. 
         [0056]    The passive RFID tags provide a unique identifier for each bottle and container. The passive RFID tags may hold information regarding the origin and contents of the bottle, such as the distributor and the brand of liquor and may be writeable so as to include the inventory SKU number. The information held on each RFID tag may be read out by an RFID reader device as known in the art. Passive RFID tags may be made available in pre-labeled rolls corresponding to specific labels and then the labels are applied to bottles during inventory staging. Examples of pre-labeled rolls are Finlandia Vodka 1 L and Lagavullin 8 year 1 L. Bottle content, origin information, and the inventory SKU numbers may also be held in an inventory database provided by the distributor or alternatively created as a result of the purchasing process or alternatively derived from the distributor manifest by a lookup process. Passive RFID tags may be pre-perforated or breakaway across at least one circuit component, rendering the tags useless for transmission if tag is applied and then later removed from the bottle surface. 
         [0057]    In  FIG. 3 , the system for theft deterrence  100  is defined in terms of a system diagram. Premises  110  on which the system is deployed has attached to it a set of stock rooms  112 ( 1 ) . . .  112 ( n ), a set of bar areas  114 ( 1 ) . . .  114 ( m ), and a holding area  117 . Employees  116 ( 1 ) . . .  116 ( p ) and a data management system  101  are also contained on the premises  110 . In an alternate embodiment, data management system  101  may be offsite. In an alternate embodiment, the system for theft deterrence  100  may include a set of smart card readers  102 ( 1 ) . . .  102 ( n ) attached to stock rooms  112 ( 1 ) . . .  112 ( n ), a set of smart card readers  104 ( 1 ) . . .  104 ( m ) attached to bar areas  114 ( 1 ) . . .  114 ( m ), a set of smart card readers  108  attached to external doors  109  leading to the outside of the building  111 , and a smart card reader  107  attached to the door of holding area  117 . In additional alternate embodiments, the smart card readers may be substituted for RFID readers. The system is further comprised of sets of RFID tagged items  123 ( 1 ) . . .  123 ( n ) on RFID enabled racks  122 ( 1 ) . . .  122 ( n ) in their respective stock rooms  112 ( 1 ) . . .  112 ( n ), sets of RFID tagged items  125 ( 1 ) . . .  125 ( m ) on RFID enabled racks  124 ( 1 ) . . .  124 ( m ) in respective bar areas  114 ( 1 ) . . .  114 ( m ), a set of RFID tagged items  119  in proximity to an RFID reader  120  in holding area  117 , and a set of recently received and as of yet untagged items  118  in holding area  117 . A set of employee identification badges  128 ( 1 ) . . .  128 ( p ) on the set of p employees  116 ( 1 ) . . .  116 ( p ), sets of RFID tags  127 ( 1 ) . . .  127 ( p ) on inventory  126 ( 1 ) . . .  126 ( p ) held by employees  116 ( 1 ) . . .  116 ( p ), and a data management system  101  to which all the sets of RFID enabled racks are communicatively connected by a computer network wherein the sets of RFID enabled racks communicate data pertaining to tagged inventory in close proximity. In alternate embodiments, the set of employee identification badges  128 ( 1 ) . . .  128 ( p ) may include RFID tags or smart cards containing employee identification information and access credentials. 
         [0058]    Data management system  101  has a computer with memory, storage capability, and display monitor capability. The computer is programmed via software running on at least one central processing unit to operate an inventory data base  105  and may be monitored by an operations manager  106 . 
         [0059]    Additionally, the stock rooms have cameras  121 ( 1 ) . . .  121 ( m ) and bar areas have cameras  131 ( 1 ) . . .  131 ( m ) connected to the data management system to accomplish continuous surveillance. During error and alarm events, the system will capture the recent video of the stock room or bar area associated to the alarm event and save it. The video file will be for the most recent X minute period prior to the alarm or error. The value X is a system parameter configurable by the system administrator. 
         [0060]    The bar areas also have point of sale (POS) devices  132 ( 1 ) . . .  132 ( m ) connected to the data management system for accumulating sales of drink items. The POS devices not only track the amount of beer bottles and wine bottles to be sold, but the POS devices  132 ( 1 ) . . .  132 ( m ) also track the consumption of liquor based on bar sales or the amount of pours from each bottle based on sales. The system compares the pour amounts based on sales with the amount of liquor checked into the bar in RFID tagged bottles. During the end of shift process, the POS data, bottles remaining, empty bottle count, and broken bottle count is reconciled. Discrepancies can be caused by over-pouring or under-pouring by bartenders, unauthorized pouring not related to sales, purchases unfulfilled (dropped drinks), inaccurate recipes in the POS system, or theft of inventory. 
         [0061]      FIG. 4  is a block diagram showing the RFID enabled rack system  150  which is comprised of a set of transceiver-enabled storage units (TESU)  155 ( 1 ) . . .  155 (R). Each TESU has an RFID transceiver for querying RFID tags on the respective proximate set of items and is capable of holding at least one drink container or RFID tagged item. In some embodiments the TESU may hold up to fifty drink containers and query fifty RFID tags at a time. Each TESU is communicatively connected to mux switch  160  which is further communicatively connected to controller  162 . Mux switch  160  operatively connects each TESU sequentially to controller  162 . Inventory or a set of items  158 ( 1 ) . . .  158 (R) is stored or displayed on a set of TESU  155 ( 1 ) . . .  155 (R). Each TESU  155 ( 1 ) . . .  155 (R) is proximate to and in communications with the corresponding inventory or set of items  158 ( 1 ) . . .  158 (R) by radio frequency (RF) signal probe. 
         [0062]    Controller  162  is a computer for controlling the operation of the set of TESUs and the mux switch and for communicating with data management system  101 . Controller  162  checks each TESU data string for completeness, queries each TESU over a given interval of time, and sends the data to the data management system. Data management system  101  continuously updates and monitors the states of various objects in the system, logging object events for inventory bookkeeping and for alarming. 
         [0063]    System for theft deterrence  100  includes a set of computer programs which operate interactively on the data management system computer and on the controllers. The set of computer programs may be written in one or more programming languages such as Java, C#, or C++ and reside in memory on the computer and controllers. 
         [0064]    The preferred embodiment of theft deterrence  100  is shown in  FIG. 15  as process for theft deterrence  816 . An employee enters a stock room filled with RFID tagged inventory at step  818 . At step  820 , all the stock rooms, as well as the bar areas, are continuously monitored via a surveillance camera system capable of automatically saving and storing a predetermined duration of video upon an alert event. In step  822 , the TESU rack systems are monitored for activity, such as removal or addition of inventory items, wherein each inventory item has an RFID tag attached to it. If an item is detected to have been removed from a TESU in step  823 , then in step  824 , the inventory item is updated to CHECKED OUT status by DMS  101 . The monitoring process of step  822 , in the event of item removal, is shown in  FIG. 8 . 
         [0065]    Inventory items are transported from the stock room to a bar area or another stock room by an employee in step  826 . In step  827 , a TESU may also detect that an inventory item has been added in which case the inventory item is updated to a CHECKED IN status in step  828 . The monitoring process of step  822 , in the event of item addition, is shown in  FIG. 10 . 
         [0066]    To alert managers to potential inventory theft, inventory items with checked out status are monitored in step  830  for timely check in. In the event of an alert condition wherein the time between CHECKED OUT and CHECKED IN events is greater than a predefined time, alert messages are accordingly sent to DMS  101  and the system will capture the video of the stock room or bar area associated to the alarm event and save it. The video file will be for the most recent X minute period prior to the alarm or error. The step  830  of monitoring checked out inventory is described in more detail in the discussion of  FIG. 16 . 
         [0067]    In the case of a bar, inventory may be sold to customers in the forms of shots of liquor from a given bottle which is a single inventory item. It is necessary to track the amount of liquor remaining in all bottles of inventory at all times to detect theft situations. To detect the amount of liquor remaining in a given bottle, the inventory item number of the bottle is associated to sales activity at the point-of-sale device in the bar area in step  832 . The percentage of liquor remaining is then updated by DMS  101 . The association of POS transactions to inventory levels of step  832  is shown in  FIG. 17 . 
         [0068]    End of shift process, step  834  provides for further detection of theft activity. An employee recognizes the empty bottles, broken bottles, and remaining levels of open inventory and manually enters the data into the POS system. If discrepancies are determined between the manually entered data and the POS data, variance reports are generated.  FIG. 14  shows the end of shift process of step  834 . 
         [0069]    With the associations made in step  832  and potentially stolen inventory items being identified in step  834 , step  836  produces a set of inventory and variance reports. 
         [0070]    Process  888  of monitoring CHECKED OUT inventory is shown as a flow chart in  FIG. 16 . As CHECKED OUT inventory leaves stockroom, a timer is started and continues until that inventory is CHECKED IN at another location on the premises. If the time elapsed between CHECKED OUT and CHECKED IN events is greater than a predetermined time period, an alert condition is marked and a video file of the area the item was CHECKED OUT of is captured and saved. Process  888  is run continuously as a background process in the DMS computer. In step  838 , the DMS queries the stock room tracking table and second tracking table  839  for CHECKED OUT events. In step  840 , the DMS monitors the bar area tracking table and third tracking table  841  for CHECKED IN events. 
         [0071]    In step  842 , an attempt is made by the DMS to match a CHECKED OUT event to a CHECKED IN event. If a match is found, step  842  is performed for another CHECKED OUT event. If no match is found, then the elapsed time E is computed in step  844  as the difference between the current time and the CHECKED OUT event time recorded in the tracking table. In step  846 , the elapsed time E is compared to a preset transfer time T  847 . If elapsed time E is less than T, then step  842  is repeated for another CHECKED OUT event. If elapsed time E is greater than or equal to T, then in step  848 , an error event is logged in first tracking table  849 . At step  850 , an alert may be generated and sent to a manager on duty for example to a specified pager device phone number or email address so that the manager may know to take rectifying action. At step  852 , a video file of the area of the alert is saved. The duration of the video file is X minutes prior to the alert condition. The value X is a system parameter configurable by the system administrator. 
         [0072]      FIG. 17  is a flowchart of a bar service management process  890  where POS activity is associated to levels of inventory. After accepting an order from a customer, the bartender removes a bottle from the rack in step  856 . This action causes the DMS to record the bottle with a given bottle ID as CHECKED OUT, the event being recorded in third tracking table  859 . The bartender then mixes and serves the drink and the sales data is entered at the POS in step  860 . The POS event is recorded in POS data  861 . If the bottle is empty, then in step  862 , the bartender places the empty bottle including its bottle RFID tag under the bar in step  864  for an end of shift process  866 . If the bottle is not empty, the bottle should be returned to the rack after the drink has been made. This may be done immediately after the POS transaction or some time thereafter according to the work load of the bartender. Step  868  queries whether the bottle has been returned to the rack. Steps  868  and  870  perform a timed out process to capture situations where bottles may not have been returned or in fact may have been taken out of the bar in an unauthorized way. If the bottle is not returned to the rack after a preset time period checked by step  870 , then in step  872  the DMS queries the bar lookup table  847  for the REMAINING BOTTLE attribute of the given bottle ID. The result of step  872  is checked in step  874  to determine if the bottle is empty. If empty, it is assumed that the bottle has been held under the bar in step  864 . If the bottle is not empty, an ERROR event is initiated in step  876  followed by sending a message to the DMS administrator in step  878  and a video file is captured and saved in step  880 . 
         [0073]    After the bottle is returned to the rack, in step  882 , the DMS records the bottle as CHECKED IN. The event is recorded in third tracking table  883 . In step  884 , the DMS matches the CHECKED IN bottle ID to recent POS data by querying the bar lookup table  887  and POS data  861 . POS data  861  includes the amount of liquor used in mixing the drink, so in step  886  the DMS calculates and stores the amount of liquor remaining in the bottle as REMAINING BOTTLE attribute in bar lookup table  887 . 
         [0074]      FIG. 5  shows an alternate embodiment of theft deterrence  100  where employees carry a smart card or an RFID tagged badge and the stock room doors and bar area entrances include smart card or RFID readers. In  FIG. 5 , a block diagram is shown to indicate operative function  200  of the set of computer programs.  FIGS. 6 through 14  show the methods that implement operative function  200  using smart card or RFID tagged employees. Alternatively, in the preferred embodiment, system for theft deterrence  100  does not incorporate the use of smart cards, smart card readers, or RFID tagged employees and therefore the inventory is associated to the employee via a continuously monitoring video surveillance system rather than an employee database and personnel event tracking table. 
         [0075]    As shown in  FIG. 5 , operative function  200  comprises event tracking programs including personnel event tracking  202 , stock room event tracking  204 , and bar event tracking  206 . Operative function  200  also includes databases implemented on a database engine running on the database management system. The databases include employee database  230  for holding employee data and inventory database  240  for holding drink bottle/container data. Operative function  200  further comprises a set of device programs for servicing events. The device programs include card reader/scanner program  250 , stock room TESU program  260 , bar area TESU program  270 , and POS device program  280 . 
         [0076]    Employee database  230  is a relational database which holds employee records having at least the fields of employee ID, last location, and employee status. The employee status is comprised of at least the states of SIGNED-IN or SIGNED-OUT. 
         [0077]    Inventory database  240  is a relational database which holds at least the fields of manifest ID, origin, location, BOTTLE REMAINING, and item status. The item status is at least comprised of the states CHECKED-IN, CHECKED-OUT, BOTTLE EMPTY, BOTTLE BROKEN, or BOTTLE LEVEL. 
         [0078]    Card reader/device program  250  is a program implemented on the controller to which a physical card reader is attached. Card reader/device program  250  is capable of gathering information from a smart card or RFID tagged employee badge, validating it, and generating at least the events of SIGNED-IN, SIGNED-OUT, AVAILABLE and UNAVAILABLE. The SIGNED-IN and SIGNED-OUT events have a set of event attributes associated thereto including at least the location of the card reader or RFID reader, event date, event time, and card ID. A generated event will be reduced to a serial stream of ASCII data and communicated to the data management system  101 . The SIGNED-IN event signals that a valid card or badge has been successfully swiped at an entry card reader or read by an RFID reader and the data associated to the card or badge exchanged with the data management system  101 . The SIGNED-OUT event signals that a valid card or badge has been successfully swiped at an exit card reader or read by an RFID reader and the data associated to the card or badge exchanged with the data management system  101 . The AVAILABLE event signals that the card reader or RFID reader is active and ready. The UNAVAILABLE event signals that the card reader or RFID reader is inactive. Card reader/scanner device program  250  may report at events or periodically to the data management system. 
         [0079]    Stock room TESU device program  260  is a program implemented on the controller to which a set of TESUs and the data management system  101  are communicatively attached as in rack  150  in the preferred embodiment. Stock room TESU device program  260  generates at least the events of CHECKED-IN, CHECKED-OUT, NO CHANGE, ERROR, BAD READ, MISSING BOTTLE TAG, and NEW BOTTLE TAG. The events CHECKED IN, CHECKED OUT, MISSING BOTTLE TAG, and NEW BOTTLE TAG have associated with them at least the attributes of location, date, time, and RFID. Other events have at least the attributes of location, date, and time associated to them in addition to other descriptive information such as pertinent error codes. A CHECKED-IN event signals to data management system  101  that a previously stored bottle has been received into a TESU for storage. A CHECKED-OUT event signals to data management system  101  that a stored bottle has been removed from the TESU and has been validated by the data management system as described later in this specification. A NEW BOTTLE TAG event signals to the data management system that a bottle not previously stored in the system has been received into a TESU for storage. A MISSING BOTTLE TAG event signals to the data management system that a previously stored bottle tag is no longer available and has not yet been validated by the data management system. The other stock room TESU device events will be described further below in connection to the various methods of the present invention. 
         [0080]    Bar area TESU device program  270  is a program implemented on the controller to which a set of TESUs and data management system  101  are communicatively attached as in rack  150  in the preferred embodiment. Bar area TESU device program  270  generates at least the events of CHECKED-IN, CHECKED-OUT, NO CHANGE, ERROR, BAD READ, MISSING BOTTLE TAG, and NEW BOTTLE TAG. The events CHECKED IN, CHECKED OUT, MISSING BOTTLE TAG, and NEW BOTTLE TAG have associated with them at least the attributes of location, date, time, and RFID. Other events have at least the attributes of location, date, and time associated to them in addition to other descriptive information such as pertinent error codes. A CHECKED-IN event signals to data management system  101  that a previously stored bottle has been received into a TESU for storage. A CHECKED-OUT event signals to data management system  101  that a stored bottle has been taken from the TESU and has been validated by the data management system as described later in this specification. A NEW BOTTLE TAG event signals to the data management system that a bottle not previously stored in the system has been received into a TESU for storage. A MISSING BOTTLE TAG event signals to the data management system that a previously stored bottle tag is no longer available and has not yet been validated by the data management system. The other bar area TESU device events will be described further below in connection to the various methods of the present invention. 
         [0081]    Point of sale (POS) device program  280  records POS transactions in POS data  285  which is also implemented as a database. The recorded POS transactions will hereafter be described as POS data  285 . Events captured in POS data  285  include transactions such as ITEM SOLD, POS opened, and POS closed. Typical attributes associated to the ITEM SOLD event are product SKU, date, time, quantity, unit price, and total price. 
         [0082]    Personnel event tracking function  202  comprises first lookup table  212  and first tracking table  222 . First look lookup table  212  associates SIGNED-IN and SIGNED-OUT events with an employee ID from employee database  230 . First tracking table  222  maintains a record of card reader device generated events including at least SIGNED-IN, SIGNED-OUT events with dates, times, locations, and smart card ID. 
         [0083]    Stock room event tracking function  204  comprises second lookup table  214  and second tracking table  224 . Second look lookup table  214  maintains records of bottle RFID tags associated with TESUs in all stock rooms, including fields for at least the RFID tag ID, TESU identifier, and manifest ID. Second lookup table  214  may also have bottle attribute fields such as BOTTLE REMAINING and origin. Second tracking table  224  maintains a record of stock room TESU generated events including at least CHECKED-IN, CHECKED-OUT and NO CHANGE events with dates, times, locations, and RFID tag ID. 
         [0084]    Bar area event tracking function  206  comprises third lookup table  216  and third tracking table  226 . Third look lookup table  216  maintains records of bottle RFID tags associated with TESUs in all bar areas, including fields for at least the RFID tag ID, TESU identifier, and manifest ID. Third lookup table  216  may also have bottle attribute fields such as BOTTLE REMAINING and origin. Third tracking table  226  maintains a record of bar area TESU generated events including at least CHECKED-IN, CHECKED-OUT and NO CHANGE events with dates, times, locations, and RFID tag ID. 
         [0085]    When items of inventory are moved from one location to another, the items are associated with the employee who used a smart card to gain access to the stock room to pick up the items. Associations are made by the data management system between employees and RFID tagged inventory. Association  290  identifies inventory in stock room event tracking  204  that has been CHECKED OUT and assigns that inventory to a SIGNED IN employee in personnel event tracking  202 . Similarly, association  291  identifies inventory in bar event tracking  206  that has been CHECKED OUT and assigns that inventory to a SIGNED IN employee in personnel tracking  202 . 
         [0086]    An alternate embodiment of the system for inventory tracking and theft deterrence is process for theft deterrence  650  shown in  FIG. 6 . When an employee swipes a smart card into the card scanner at the entry to a location in step  652 , the employee is updated by DMS  101 , in step  654 , to SIGNED IN status at that location. Similarly, when an employee swipes a smart card into the card scanner at an exit to a location in step  663 , the employee is updated to SIGNED OUT status at that location in step  664 . The sign-in and sign-out processes of steps  654  and  664  are described in more detail in relation to  FIG. 7 . 
         [0087]    In step  656 , the TESU rack systems are monitored for activity, such as removal or addition of inventory items, wherein each inventory item has an RFID tag attached to it. If an item is detected to have been removed from a TESU in step  661 , then in step  658 , the inventory item is updated to CHECKED OUT status by DMS  101 . The monitoring process of step  656 , in the event of item removal, is shown in  FIG. 8 . 
         [0088]    Inventory and employees are associated in step  660 . Each removed inventory item with CHECKED OUT status is associated to an employee with SIGNED IN status. The association process of step  660  for checked out items is shown in  FIG. 9 . 
         [0089]    In step  665 , a TESU may also detect that an inventory item has been added in which case the inventory item is updated to a CHECKED IN status in step  666 . The monitoring process of step  656 , in the event of item addition, is shown in  FIG. 10 . The check in process of step  666  and employee sign in process at a bar area is shown in  FIG. 11 . 
         [0090]    To alert managers to potential inventory theft, inventory items with checked out status are monitored in step  670  for timely check in. In the event of an alert condition wherein the time between CHECKED OUT and CHECKED IN events is greater than a predefined time, alert messages are accordingly sent to DMS  101 . The step  670  of monitoring checked out inventory is described in more detail in the discussion of  FIG. 12  below. 
         [0091]    In the case of a bar, inventory may be sold to customers in the forms of shots of liquor from a given bottle which is a single inventory item. It is necessary to track the amount of liquor remaining in all bottles of inventory at all times to detect theft situations. To detect the amount of liquor remaining in a given bottle, the inventory item number of the bottle is associated to sales activity at the point-of-sale device in the bar area in step  672 . The percentage of liquor remaining is then updated by DMS  101 . The association process of step  672  is shown in  FIGS. 13A and 13B  and described below. 
         [0092]    End of shift process, step  674  provides for further detection of theft activity. An employee recognizes the empty bottles, broken bottles, and remaining levels of open inventory and manually enters the data into the POS system. If discrepancies are determined between the manually entered data and the POS data, variance reports are generated and the variances are associated to the last bartender on duty.  FIG. 14  shows the end of shift process of step  674 . 
         [0093]    With the associations made in step  660  and step  672 , and potentially stolen inventory items being identified in step  674 , a set of inventory and variance reports  675  may be generated in step  676 . Reports  675  indicate the associations to management so that management may make informed decisions about the assignment of stolen inventory to employees or otherwise.  FIGS. 18 through 22  are examples of reports  675 . 
         [0094]      FIG. 7  is a flowchart of the smart card sign in and sign out process. Process  300  begins with step  302  where an employee swipes a smart card in his possession at an entrance to a stock room door or bar area. The smart card data including ID is read and sent to DMS  101  for validation. The smart card ID is checked for validity in step  305 , by examining the first lookup table  307  and employee database (not shown). If the smart card ID is not valid, then access is denied in step  308 . If the smart card ID is valid, the employee is checked for SIGNED-IN status in step  310 . If SIGNED-IN already, then a security camera is optionally activated in step  311 . If not SIGNED IN, then in step  314  the DMS records a SIGNED-IN event in first tracking table  315 . The DMS then checks employee credentials in step  317  which are checked for validity in step  320 . 
         [0095]    In step  320 , if the employee does not have credentials to check-in or check-out bottles, then the security camera system is activated in step  321 . The method continues in step  323  when the employee swipes his smart card at the exit to a stock room door or bar area. Smart card ID is then sent to DMS in step  324 . The smart card ID is validated in step  325 . If the employee is not SIGNED-IN or is already SIGNED-OUT in step  329 , then an ERROR event is generated in step  330  followed by activation of the security camera system  332  and an optional error handling step  333 . The optional error handling step may include utilizing third party security monitoring systems. If the smart card ID is validated in step  325 , then in step  328 , the DMS records a SIGNED-OUT event in the first tracking table  315 . 
         [0096]      FIG. 8  is a flowchart diagram of a stock room check out event and the method to handle such an event. Beginning with step  351 , the controller queries a given TESU for an RFID data update. In step  352 , if data is ready from a prior query, then in step  354  RFID data  355  previously read is sent to the controller. If data needs to be updated, then in step  358 , the given TESU probes all the RFID tags for the set of items in proximity to it. If there is no transmission error via step  360 , then RFID data  355  is sent to controller in step  361 . Should a transmission error occur, a BAD READ event is signaled and the given TESU restarts the probe in step  358 . Once the the data is sent to the controller, the controller forwards the fresh RFID data to the DMS in step  363 . 
         [0097]    The fresh RFID data is compared, in step  365 , with RFID data in second lookup table  370 . If the RFID data has not changed since the last query, then in step  390 , the DMS records the time of the query and a NO CHANGE event in the second tracking table  392 . In this case, the query ends at step  395 . 
         [0098]    If the fresh RFID data has changed since the last query and a bottle RFID tag is missing, then in step  367 , a MISSING BOTTLE TAG event is recorded by DMS  101  in second tracking table  392 . Step  368  follows when the DMS sends a MISSING BOTTLE TAG signal to the controller. In step  371 , the controller sends the MISSING BOTTLE TAG signal to the given TESU which activates a red light on the given TESU in step  372 . In step  373 , a timeout parameter N is set and the process continues with step  375  wherein the missing RFID tag is probed. If missing RFID tag is still, absent then the timeout parameter N is decremented in step  377 . Step  375  repeats, also checking if N is non zero. If N=0, then the process times out and the controller signals a CHECKED-OUT event, location, and time to DMS, logging the event in second tracking table  392 . Lookup table  370  is updated in step  380  to reflect the new bottle configuration in the given TESU, the inventory database is updated in step  382 , and the process completes in step  385 . 
         [0099]    Alternatively, if in step  375 , the missing bottle tag RFID is detected before timing out, then the bottle has been returned to the storage unit and the controller signals to change the MISSING BOTTLE TAG status to NO CHANGE status, which is recorded by second tracking table  392 . 
         [0100]      FIG. 9  is a flowchart diagram of the CHECKED OUT event handling process  400 . Bottle ID  402  is a bottle that has been previously checked out of the TESU. After the CHECKED OUT event  385  occurs in process  350 , then step  403  is executed by the DMS which queries tracking table  404  for all SIGNED IN events in a given time period. In step  410 , if there is no SIGNED IN employees for that location, then an ERROR event is signaled in step  412  followed by sending an error message to the DMS administrator  414  and optionally triggering further alarm events in step  415  which may include turning on a security camera. In step  418 , if only one employee has SIGNED IN status then in step  419  the employee ID  417  is associated to the bottle ID  402 . Optionally, step  420  may be included which validates employee ID  417  CHECK OUT credentials using employee database  425 . If invalid, step  421  sends an alert message to the DMS administrator. 
         [0101]    If there is more than one employee SIGNED IN then a further check is performed to determine CHECK OUT credentials in step  427 . If only one of the SIGNED IN employees has CHECK OUT credentials then that employee ID is associated to bottle ID  402  in step  428 . 
         [0102]    If no employee has valid credentials, then in step  432 , the senior most SIGNED IN employee with employee ID  436  is associated to bottle ID  402 . If multiple employees are in the location with SIGNED IN status with valid CHECK OUT credentials, then in step  429 , the employee ID with the most recent SIGNED IN event is associated to bottle ID  402 . 
         [0103]    After any of association steps  428 ,  429  or  432 , the employee associated to bottle ID  402  leaves the location and is switched to SIGNED OUT status according to process  300 . 
         [0104]    Under normal circumstances, inventory transfers from the holding area to a stock room or from a stock room to a bar area, cause a CHECKED IN event to occur.  FIG. 10  shows the general CHECK IN process  450 . Beginning with step  451 , the controller queries a given TESU for an RFID data update. In step  452 , if data is ready from a prior query, then in step  454  RFID data  455  previously read is sent to the controller. If data needs to be updated then in step  458 , the given TESU probes all the RFID tags for the set of bottles associated to it. If there is no transmission error via step  460  then RFID data  455  is sent to controller in step  461 . Should a transmission error occur, a BAD READ event is signaled and the given TESU restarts the probe in step  458 . Once the data is sent to the controller, the controller forwards the fresh RFID data to the DMS in step  463 . 
         [0105]    The fresh RFID data is compared, in step  465 , with RFID data in lookup table  470 . If the RFID data has not changed since the last query, then in step  492 , the DMS records the time of the query and a NO CHANGE event in tracking table  475 . In this case, the query ends at step  495 . 
         [0106]    If the fresh RFID data has changed since the last query and a bottle RFID tag is newly added, then a NEW BOTTLE TAG event is issued in step  467 . The NEW BOTTLE TAG event causes an update to lookup table  470  in step  480 , using the inventory database  490  to find the attributes associated to the new bottle tag. In step  468 , the DMS sends a NEW BOTTLE TAG signal to the controller which in turn, in step  474  forwards the NEW BOTTLE TAG signal to the TESU. The controller then signals a CHECKED IN event in step  479  which creates a record in tracking table  475  to log the CHECKED IN event including time, location, and bottle RFID. Inventory database  490  is updated in step  482  to show CHECKED IN status for the bottle. The CHECKED IN process concludes in step  485 . 
         [0107]    Turning now to the bar management process,  FIG. 11  is a flowchart diagram of a bar area inventory process  550  which begins with step  551  when an employee carries at least one CHECKED OUT bottle to a given bar area. The employee then swipes his smart card outside the bar area in step  553  after which the smart card data including ID is read and sent to the DMS for validation. The smart card ID is checked for validity in step  555 , by examining the first lookup table  558  and employee database (not shown). If the smart card ID is not valid, then a security camera is activated in step  560 . If the smart card ID is valid, the employee is checked for SIGNED-IN status in step  559 . If SIGNED-IN already, then a security camera may be activated in step  560 . In step  562  the DMS records a SIGNED-IN event in first tracking table  570 . 
         [0108]    Once the employee is SIGNED IN to the bar area, he places the CHECKED OUT bottle in the bar area rack in a TESU in step  564 . The DMS performs a query on the bar area TESUs in step  566  which initiates a bar area CHECK IN process  568  similar to CHECK IN process  450  described previously. CHECK IN process  568  results in the bottle RFID tag being included in bar lookup table  580  and a CHECKED IN event recorded with time, location, and bottle RFID in third tracking table  590 . 
         [0109]    As CHECKED OUT inventory leaves stock room it is a method of the present invention to monitor the CHECKED OUT items and send alerts to management if inventory is not CHECKED IN after a predefined time period. The timing out process  600  to accomplish said method is shown in the flow chart of  FIG. 12 . Timing out process  600  is run continuously as a background process in the DMS computer. In step  601 , the DMS queries the stock room tracking table and second tracking table  602  for CHECKED OUT events. In step  605 , the DMS monitors the bar area tracking table and third tracking table  606  for CHECKED IN events. 
         [0110]    In step  610 , an attempt is made by the DMS to match a CHECKED OUT event to a CHECKED IN event. If a match is found, step  610  is performed for another CHECKED OUT event. If no match is found, then the elapsed time E is computed in step  612  as the difference between the current time and the CHECKED OUT event time recorded in the tracking table. In step  615 , the elapsed time E is compared to a preset transfer time T  617 . If elapsed time E is less than T, then step  610  is repeated for another CHECKED OUT event. If elapsed time E is greater than or equal to T, then in step  620 , an error event is logged in first tracking table  622  for SIGNED OUT employee associated to CHECKED OUT event noting the CHECKED OUT inventory, a timed out designation, the current time, and the elapsed time. Optionally, in step  625 , an alert may be generated and sent to a manager on duty for example to a specified pager device phone number or email address so that the manager may know to take rectifying action. 
         [0111]      FIGS. 13A and 13B  are a flowchart of a bar service management process  700 . In step  701 , bar service begins when an employee, usually a bartender, swipes a smart card in the bar area. The smart card ID is sent to the DMS in step  703  and validated by the DMS in step  705  using employee lookup table  706  and employee database (not shown). If the card ID is invalid, a security camera is activated in step  709 . If the card ID is valid then the employee ID associated to the card ID is checked for bartender credentials in step  708 . The DMS records the employee as SIGNED IN with bartender credentials in step  710 . The card reader may be integrated into the POS device in the bar area, so that the bartender is simultaneously logged into the POS system. Furthermore, a different card reader may be utilized for employees that are simply moving inventory into the bar area as in process  550 . Process  700  is continued at point A on  FIG. 13B . 
         [0112]    In  FIG. 13B , step  712  is performed after the bartender is SIGNED IN. Step  712  associates all bottles in the bar area rack to the bartender. This association is recorded as an event in third tracking table  715 . Later, after accepting an order from a customer, the bartender removes a bottle from the rack in step  714 . This action causes the DMS to record the bottle with a given bottle ID as CHECKED OUT, the event being recorded in third tracking table  715 . The bartender then mixes and serves the drink after which he enters sales data at the POS in step  718 . The POS event is recorded in POS data  735 . If the bottle is empty, then in step  720 , the bartender places the empty bottle including its bottle RFID tag under the bar in step  722  for an end of shift process  725 . The bar service management process  700  continues in any case with step  728 . 
         [0113]    Once the bottle is determined by the bartender to have remaining content, the bottle is returned to the bar rack at step  728 . This may be done immediately after the POS or some time thereafter according to the work flow of the bartender. However, steps  728  and  731  perform a timed out process to capture situations where bottles may not have been returned or in fact may have been taken out of the bar in an unauthorized way. If the bottle is not returned to the rack after a preset time period checked by step  731 , then in step  742  the DMS queries the bar lookup table  740  for the REMAINING BOTTLE attribute of the given bottle ID. The result of step  742  is checked in step  745  to determine if the bottle is empty. If empty, the process continues at step  749  and it is assumed that the bottle has been held under the bar in step  722 . If the bottle is not empty in step  745 , an ERROR event is initiated in step  746  followed by sending a message to the DMS administrator in step  747 . In step  748 , further alarm events may be triggered such as paging the bartender. 
         [0114]    After the bottle is returned to the rack, in step  733 , the DMS records the bottle as CHECKED IN. The event is recorded in third tracking table  715 . In step  734 , the DMS matches the CHECKED IN bottle ID to recent POS data by querying the bar lookup table  740  and POS data  735 . POS data  735  includes the amount of liquor used in mixing the drink, so in step  736  the DMS calculates and stores the amount of liquor remaining in the bottle as REMAINING BOTTLE attribute in bar lookup table  740 . 
         [0115]    According to step  749 , process  700  repeats at step  714  until the bartender SIGNS OUT by swiping his smart card in step  730 . The SIGNED OUT event of step  730  is recorded in the personnel tracking table as in process  300 . 
         [0116]    End of shift procedure  800  occurs after each bartender shift. The next on-duty bartender or manager must ascertain or recognize inventory with no remaining contents, broken inventory, and the current levels of the open inventory. As bar prep before each shift, the bartender or manager manually enters into the POS system recognized empty bottles, recognized broken bottles, and the current levels of the open inventory behind the bar. The bartender visually observes each bottle and estimates the level of each bottle to the nearest tenth. The POS system converts the tenths into ounces. This information is reconciled with the POS data accumulated throughout the previous shift and discrepancies are noted. Discrepancies can be caused by over-pouring or under-pouring by bartenders, unauthorized pouring not related to sales, purchases unfulfilled (dropped drinks), inaccurate recipes in the POS system, or theft of inventory. Variance reports are created identifying the discrepancies. In an alternate embodiment where employees carry RFID tagged ID badges or smart cards, the discrepancies can be associated to the employees on duty at the time. The end of shift procedure is represented by step  674  of  FIG. 6  and step  834  of  FIG. 15 . 
         [0117]      FIG. 14  shows the steps involved in end of shift procedure  800 . End of shift procedure  800  begins with step  801  wherein an employee records data in bar lookup table  805  showing that the bottles underneath the bar are EMPTY. The recording may be accomplished by a computer terminal connected to the DMS. The employee may also record, in step  803 , any broken bottles that may have resulted in lost contents that should be accounted for. A BROKEN BOTTLE attribute is recorded in bar lookup table  805 . In step  804 , the employee will also record the levels of open inventory in bar lookup table  805 . 
         [0118]    Step  807  reconciles the entries in POS data  810 , third tracking table  815 , and bar lookup table  805  by comparing the manually entered data to the POS data acquired throughout the shift. Discrepancies in the inventory levels are identified in step  808 . In an alternate embodiment, step  812  associates the discrepancies to the last bartender to have CHECKED OUT each bottle showing a variance. 
         [0119]    Events and updates occur for each stock room and for each bar area associated to the premises according to the movement of inventory about the premises. Each update has an associated log message which is sent to data management system  101  so that a complete inventory log is kept of all inventory transactions. Data management system  101  may then run programs to query and run various reports based on the information in inventory database  240 , in a system log, in an inventory log, and in tracking tables  222 ,  224 , and  226 . Queries of the inventory log, system log and tracking tables are used to generate report views as described below. 
         [0120]      FIG. 18  shows a report view of a first example of an inventory event report  910  generated by data management system  101 . The central computer is used to produce simple reports and also to set off alarms in the event inventory is not accounted for within a stipulated timeframe. This ensures that the staff who brings out the inventory from the stock room deliver the inventory directly to the bar areas immediately without diversion. Event report  910  indicates the time  911  of each inventory event, the employee  912  involved in the inventory event, the location  913  of the inventory event, and some detailed text  914  describing the inventory event. Event report  910  is a simple report based on the information in the inventory log. This report allows a “forensic study” into the event from the time the staff enters the stock room to the time the inventory is accounted for. Every event is time stamped. Alarms will be raised if inventory is not accounted for within a stipulated timeframe from the time the staff leaves the stock room. 
         [0121]      FIG. 19  shows a graphic of a set bar area events  922  and a report view of a second example of an inventory event report  920 . Bar area  921  receives inventory which is read by RFID scanner  924  and for which a plurality of inventory updates  925  are sent to central computer  928 . A plurality of sales are made in bar area  921  at POS position  923  wherein a plurality of sales updates  926  are sent data management system  101 . A manager requests a report view of data management system  101  which is computed and displayed  927  as report view  920 . Report view  920  includes employees  951  logged into the POS positions in bar area  921  and a set of records  955 . Report view  920  displays one record for each type of inventory including the fields inventory  952  sold from bar area  921 , number of items  953  received into bar area  921  inventory, number of items sold from first POS  954 , number of items sold from second POS  956 , and discrepancy  957 . Discrepancy  957  is the difference between the items received and the total items sold. A manager may easily recognize if inventory is missing from the bar area by examining the set of records  955 . 
         [0122]      FIG. 20  shows three report views, employee report  930 , location report  931 , and missing inventory report  932 . Each report view has one record per row, each record indicating: time  933 , an employee attached to a given inventory  934  at time  933 , a location of where the inventory was logged with the employee  935 , and inventory details  936  including types and numbers of items. Employee report  930  is useful for monitoring suspicious activity and is constructed by querying the inventory database  105  for all events involving a particular employee for a given time period. The location report  931  is useful for monitoring locations prone to inventory loss and is constructed by querying the inventory database  105  for events involving a particular location. Missing inventory report  932  is a summary report generated by one of the following query methods: by querying missing inventory table  270 , by querying employee inventory table  230  for in hand items still associated with employees, or by performing a query on the overall inventory database  105  which totals inventory and subtracts the inventory sold by inventory type. 
         [0123]      FIG. 21  shows a report view of current inventory report  940 . Inventory report  940  is a total of all inventory on the premises constructed by performing a query on the overall inventory database  105  to sum the inventory by inventory type. Inventory report  940  separates the inventory types into tables  943 ,  944 , and  945 . Each table includes product type field  941  and product quantity field  942 . 
         [0124]    The present invention is also useful for inventory management functions outside of theft deterrence.  FIG. 22  shows a view of a re-order report  960  constructed by querying inventory database  105 . Columns  962 ,  963 , and  964  are associated with specific bar area products, in this example, Corona, Bass, and 2003 Merlot—Rutherford Hill respectively. Row  961  is the header row of the report and identifies the specific product. Row  965  contains total quantities of product in storage. Row  966  contains sums of sales for the previous day. Row  967  contains sums of sales for the previous week. Row  968  contains estimates of when stock will be depleted by computing a sales trend for each product. Row  969  contains a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and indicates whether or not to reorder. Finally, Row  970  estimates an order quantity based on the sales trend. 
         [0125]    While this preferred embodiment has been described in reference to a preferred embodiment, this description is not intended to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications and combinations of the illustrative embodiments, as well as other embodiments of the preferred embodiment, will be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description. It is therefore intended that the appended claims encompass any such modifications or embodiments.