Methods and apparatus for arbitrary antenna phasing in an electronic article surveillance system

1. A method for controlling electronic article surveillance (EAS) transmissions, said method comprising:

calculating system parameters associated with one or more of a desired frequency, a desired duty cycle, and a desired phase difference between antennas for a transmitter;

initializing a counter with a value based on the system parameters;

comparing a count from the counter to the system parameters; and

modulating EAS transmission signals based on the comparison between the count and the system parameters.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein calculating system parameters comprises:

setting a period register with at least one value that defines a desired average frequency output based upon clock cycles of a master clock; and

configuring a compare register with at least one value that defines a desired duty cycle output.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein calculating system parameters comprises setting a compare register with at least one value that defines a desired duty cycle output based on an average frequency.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein initializing a counter comprises determining at least one count value based upon clock cycles of a master clock.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein calculating system parameters comprises dithering register values between two or more values that provide a desired average frequency based upon clock cycles of a master clock.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein comparing a count comprises resetting the counter when the count is equal to the system parameter associated with the desired frequency.