Methods, systems and devices for electronic article surveillance deactivation having randomized transmission rates

1. A method for providing an interrogation signal from a handheld deactivation device for identifying an Electronic Article Surveillance (“EAS”) security tag of a magnetomechanical type, the method comprising:

initiating, by a processing device of the handheld deactivation device, an interrogation signal, wherein the interrogation signal comprises a plurality of identical transmission bursts and a plurality of randomly selected time periods to wait between the transmission bursts such that a time period of random duration elapses between each of the plurality of identical transmission bursts; and

preventing the handheld deactivation device's interference with wireless signaling operations of another EAS system by transmitting the interrogation signal having the randomly selected time periods between the plurality of identical transmission bursts from a transmit module operably connected to the processing device; and

facilitating a reduction in power consumption of the handheld deactivation device by randomly selecting the plurality of time periods from those having a duration of between 200 and 600 mS so as to reduce a total amount of time during which said handheld deactivation device is required to transmit relative to the wait between transmission bursts.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the interrogation signal comprises:

selecting each transmission burst to have a duration comprising less than 10 of a defined duty cycle; and

controlling the randomly selected time period between transmission bursts after the first transmission pulse by waiting a randomly determined number of said duty cycles before each subsequent transmission burst.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, by the processing device, a return signal in response to the interrogation signal;

determining, by the processing device, whether the return signal indicates a security tag to be deactivated; and

transmitting, by a deactivation module operably connected to the transmit module, a deactivation signal.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining, by the processing device, the plurality of randomly selected time periods.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein determining the plurality of randomly selected time periods comprises generating, by a random number generator operably connected to the processing device, the plurality of randomly selected time periods.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of identical transmission bursts has a duration of 1.6 mS.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein said power consumption is further reduced by dynamically varying an amplitude of the interrogation signal based on a detected level of environmental noise.

8. A system for providing an interrogation signal from a handheld deactivation device for identifying an Electronic Article Surveillance (“EAS”) security tag of a magnetomechanical type, the system comprising:

a processing device; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium operably connected to the processing device and configured to store one or more instructions that, when executed, cause the processing device to:

initiate an interrogation signal, wherein the interrogation signal comprises a plurality of identical transmission bursts and a plurality of randomly selected time periods to wait between the transmission bursts such that a time period of random duration elapses between each of the plurality of identical transmission bursts, and

preventing the handheld deactivation device's interference with wireless signaling operations of another system by providing an instruction to a transmit module operably connected to the processing device to transmit the interrogation signal having the randomly selected time periods between each of the plurality of identical transmission bursts; and

facilitate a reduction in power consumption of the handheld deactivation device by randomly selecting the plurality of time periods from those having a duration of between 200 and 600 mS so as to reduce a total amount of time during which said handheld deactivation device is required to transmit relative to the wait between the transmission bursts.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the one or more instructions for causing the processing device to provide the instruction to transmit the interrogation signal further comprises one or more instructions for causing the processing device to:

select each transmission burst to have a duration comprising less than 10% of a defined duty cycle; and

control the randomly selected time period between transmission bursts after the first transmission pulse by waiting a randomly determined number of said duty cycles before each subsequent transmission burst.

10. The system of claim 8 , further comprising one or more instructions for causing the processing device to:

receive a return signal in response to the interrogation signal;

determine whether the return signal indicates a security tag to be deactivated; and

provide an instruction to a deactivation module operably connected to the transmit module to transmit a deactivation signal.

11. The system of claim 8 , further comprising one or more instructions for causing the processing device to determine the plurality of randomly selected time periods.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more instructions for causing the processing device to determine the plurality of random time periods comprises one or more instructions for causing the processing device to generate, using a random number generator operably connected to the processing device, the plurality of randomly selected time periods.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein each of the plurality of identical transmission bursts has a duration of 1.6 mS.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein said power consumption is further reduced by dynamically varying an amplitude of the interrogation signal based on a detected level of environmental noise.

15. A handheld device for providing an interrogation signal for identifying an Electronic Article Surveillance (“EAS”) security tag of a magnetomechanical type, comprising:

a microprocessor configured to:

initiate an interrogation signal, wherein the interrogation signal comprises a plurality of identical transmission bursts and a plurality of randomly selected time periods to wait between the transmission bursts such that a time period of random duration elapses between each of the plurality of identical transmission bursts, and

facilitate the prevention of the handheld device's interference with wireless signaling operations of a remote system by providing an instruction to a transmit module operably connected to the processing device to transmit the interrogation signal having the randomly selected time periods between the plurality of identical transmission bursts;

facilitate a reduction in power consumption of the handheld deactivation device by randomly selecting the plurality of random time periods from those having a duration of between 200 and 600 mS so as to reduce a total amount of time during which said handheld deactivation device is required to transmit relative to the wait time; and

said transmit module operably connected to the microprocessor and configured to:

receive the indication to transmit the interrogation signal,

transmit each of the plurality of identical transmission bursts, and

interrupt transmission between each of the plurality of identical transmission bursts for one of the plurality of randomly selected time periods such that said time period of random duration elapses between each of the plurality of identical transmission bursts.

16. The device of claim 15 , wherein the processing device is further configured to:

receive a return signal in response to the interrogation signal;

determine whether the return signal indicates a security tag to be deactivated; and

provide an instruction to a deactivation module operably connected to the transmit module to transmit a deactivation signal.

17. The device of claim 15 , wherein the processing device is further configured to determine the plurality of randomly selected time periods.

18. The device of claim 17 , wherein the processing device is further configured to generate, using a random number generator operably connected to the processing device, the plurality of randomly selected time periods.

19. The device of claim 15 , wherein each of the plurality of identical transmission bursts has a duration of 1.6 mS.

20. The device of claim 15 , wherein said power consumption is further reduced by dynamically varying an amplitude of the interrogation signal based on a detected level of environmental noise.