| 摘要 |
A method of identifying individual articles within a predetermined set of articles be means of data characteristics of the articles, e.g. article price and/or the nature of the goods constituting the articles, which method is characterised by applying to each article a magnetic tag or maker carrying a predetermined arrangement of magnetic elements unique to that article or to that article and others sharing the same characteristic, e.g. article price and/or the nature of the goods constituting the article, the magnetic tag or marker being susceptible to interrogation by the steps of: (1) applying a magnetic field to an interrogation zone where the magnetic element(s) is or are located, or is or are expected to be located, such that there exists within the interrogation zone a magnetic field comprising a first region at which the component of the magnetic field resolved in a first direction is zero, and being characterised in that within regions contiguous with the first region the component of the magnetic field resolved in the first direction is sufficient to saturate the, or a part of the element(s); (2) causing relative movement between the magnetic field and the magnetic elements(s); and (3) detecting the magnetic response of the magnetic elements(s) during the relative movement to generate a response indicative of the magnetic properties of the tag or marker and hence indicative of the price and/or the nature of the article carrying the magnetic tag or marker.
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