Patent ID: 7772974

Claim:
A tape seal for sealing an item and allowing for detection of tampering with the seal, the tape seal comprising: a substrate having an integral and electrically conductive circuit arrangement and a detection circuit, wherein said detection circuit monitors a complex impedance of said conductive circuit arrangement and, responsive to the monitored complex impedance, detects tampering with the tape seal; a radio telemetry interface operatively coupled to said electronic detection circuit so as to allow information to be exchanged between the tape seal and an external host computer system, wherein said conductive circuit arrangement comprises circuit lines of printed electrically conductive ink, wherein said substrate is selected from the group consisting of a polymer, a paper, and a combination thereof, wherein said electrically conductive circuit arrangement comprises at least one circuit line adapted and arranged so that tampering with the tape seal causes a change of resistance of said circuit line, wherein said change of resistance of said circuit line is recorded and stored by the detection circuit, wherein the at least one circuit line comprises a plurality of circuit lines extending over different lengths of the tape seal corresponding to associated visual markers on the tape seal where the tape seal may suitably be cut at the different lengths.