Radio frequency identification (RFID) tag location verification using short range communication

1. A method of electronic article surveillance (BAS), comprising:

first transmitting, at a first time, a radio frequency identification (RFID) interrogation signal into an RFID interrogation zone of an EAS system;

first receiving at least one RFID response signal from a first RFID tag of the EAS system responding to the interrogation signal;

second transmitting, within a predetermined time interval from the first time, a non-RFID RF signal into a second zone, the second zone and the RFID interrogation zone overlapping to form a zone of interest;

second receiving, from the first RFID tag, an indication that the first RFID tag received the second transmission; and

determining, based on receiving both the at least one RFID response signal from a first RFID tag of the EAS system responding to the interrogation signal and the indication that the first RFID tag received the second transmission, that the first RFID tag is in the zone of interest.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second transmitting is in response to the first receiving.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein:

the first receiving further comprises determining that the first RFID tag is not authorized to be in the RFID interrogation zone; and

the second transmitting occurs only in response to determining that the first RFID tag is not authorized to be in the RFID interrogation zone.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising, alarming in response to determining that the first RFID tag is in the zone of interest.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the non-RFID RF signal is a personal area network (PAN) signal.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the PAN is a Bluetooth PAN.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein determining is further based on a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the first tag.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indication that the first RFID tag received the second transmission comprises one of: an information element in the RFID response signal, and a received non-RFID response signal from the first tag in response to the non-RFID RF signal.

9. An electronic article surveillance (EAS) system, comprising:

an EAS tag reader operative to:

first transmit, at a first time, a radio frequency identification (RFID) interrogation signal into an RFID interrogation zone of an EAS system;

first receive at least one RFID response signal from a first EAS tag of the EAS system responding to the interrogation signal;

second transmit, within a predetermined time interval from the first time, a non-RFID RF signal into a second zone, the second zone and the RFID interrogation zone overlapping to form a zone of interest; and

second receive, from the first EAS tag, an indication that the first EAS tag received the second transmission; and

at least one processor:

in communication with the BAS tag reader; and

operative to:

determine, based on receiving both the at least one RFID response signal from a first RFID tag of the EAS system responding to the interrogation signal and the indication that the first RFID tag received the second transmission, that the first RFID tag is in the zone of interest.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the second transmitting is in response to the first receiving.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein:

the first receiving further comprises determining that the first RFID tag is not authorized to be in the RFID interrogation zone; and

the second transmitting occurs only in response to determining that the first RFID tag is not authorized to be in the RFID interrogation zone.

12. The system of claim 11 , further comprising, alarming in response to determining that the first RFID tag is in the zone of interest.

13. The system of claim 9 , wherein the non-RFID RF signal is a personal area network (PAN) signal.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the PAN is a Bluetooth PAN.

15. The system of claim 13 , wherein determining is further based on a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the first tag.

16. The system of claim 9 , wherein the indication that the first RFID tag received the second transmission comprises one of: an information element in the RFID response signal, and a received non-RFID response signal from the first tag in response to the non-RFID RF signal.

17. An electronic article surveillance (EAS) tag, comprising:

an RFID subsystem operative to receive an RFID interrogation signal and respond with an RFID response;

a non-RFID RF subsystem, operative to receive a non-RFID RF signal and respond by wirelessly indicating that the non-RFID subsystem received the non-RFID RF signal;

wherein the non-RFID subsystem responds that the non-RFID RF subsystem received the non-RFID RF signal by one of:

allowing the RFID subsystem to respond to the RFID interrogation signal with an RFID response only upon the non-RFID RF subsystem having received a non-RFID RF signal within a predetermined time interval related to the RFID response; and

supplementing the RFID response with at least one Information element indicating that the non-RFID RF subsystem received the non-RFID RF signal.

18. The EAS tag of claim 17 , wherein the non-RFID RF subsystem is a personal area network (PAN) signal.