Method and apparatus for maintaining and locating lost, misplaced or stolen articles
Theft increases the average product cost to consumers. A mentoring system is presented that can help to reduce or prevent the inventory from lost or theft. Theft is a serious concern in the consumer market place. Industry loses billions per year on theft of merchandise. According to a Reuters report, last year, thefts by employees of U.S. retail merchandise accounted for $15.9 billion, or 44 percent of theft losses at stores, more than shoplifting and vendor fraud combined. Thus,total thief by the customers and store employees during the year 2008 amounted to $36 billion. Several embodiments of ways to control or reduce the thefts in the market place are presented.
1. A portable hand held system apparatus comprising:
a plurality of components with different amplitudes of stimulus, placed in a pattern by a first user;
an energy transfer unit remotely powering the components;
a wireless link is formed between components and a portable hand held unit;
a list of the components are transmitted over the wireless link;
a touch screen displays the list of the components, whereby selecting one of the components in the list causes a stimulus to be emitted from the component; and
a second user can locate the component.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
the stimulus is audio or visual.
3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
an output power of the component can be adjusted.
4. A method of notifying a visual monitoring system to follow a component once the component is outside a cell comprising the steps of:
using a wireless monitoring system to verify the component is within the cell;
wirelessly identifying if the component is removed from the cell; and
notifying the visual monitoring system to continuously follow the component outside the cell.
5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
visually identifying the component is placed in a cart.
6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
using a energy transfer unit to power up the component within the cart.
7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
using a second wireless monitoring system to verify the component is within the cart.
8. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
visually identifying the component is being carried by a customer.
9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
following the carried component to a register.
10. The apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising:
sounding an alarm if the component enters a restricted area.
11. The apparatus of claim 4 , further comprising:
using a energy transfer unit to power up the component within the cell.
12. The apparatus of claim 4 , further comprising:
checking the component against a database.
13. The apparatus of claim 5 , further comprising:
checking the cart position in an aisle.
14. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
the second user follows the components that emit stimulus in the pattern.
15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein
the pattern is a maze.
16. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein
the components have a larger output power signature.
17. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
the second user follows the components that emit stimulus in either increasing or decreasing order.
18. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a component's electronics are incorporated in at least one integrated circuit.