INTEGRATED HYBRID ELECTRONIC ARTICLE SURVEILLANCE MARKER

摘要

Electronic article surveillance markers, methods for their production and fo r their use are disclosed. In one aspect there is provided an integrated deactivatable hybrid marker which can be used both in radio frequency and magnetic harmonic article surveillance systems. The harmonics generating element or elements of the marker are inserted into a RF resonant circuit as an active part of the circuit. The deactivation of the marker is accomplishe d by employing another element of high coercivity magnetic material. When plac ed in a RF interrogation field, the hybrid marker causes an increase in absorption of transmitted signal in order to reduce the signal in the receiving coil of the RF surveillance system. When placed in an interrogatio n zone of a magnetic harmonic article surveillance system, the marker generate s high harmonics of the interrogating frequency that can be detected by the receiver of the surveillance system. In addition both the RF and harmonic functions of the hybrid marker can be deactivated by a single process. Furth er more, the use of conductive paste material to print the RF circuits is disclosed to achieve a low cost manufacturing process.