A tracking device with a screen that displays the mode of the tracking device on a screen. The device modes may include sleep mode, monitor mode, locate mode, and emergency mode. Each mode represents a frequency of transmission and which can be changed by the software developer or by the consumer in their software application. The sleep mode will be the fewest frequency pings and may be the mode in which the tracking device is operating while it is in a geofence. Monitor mode will be a higher frequency of pings and a locate mode may be yet a further increased number of pings per given time interval. The emergency mode will be entered when, for example, the pet is outside of the geofence and the owner needs to receive an intense number of pings to assure proper location, especially if the pet is moving. A charge may be made to the customer to enable readouts showing the mode and battery life left, and that the revenues derived from the customer, and in the case where the tracking device is used for pets, may be shared with the pet store. The user will be able to know the battery life remaining in any of the modes. The software application will communicate with the tracking device to change the frequency of the pings.

Systems and methods for operating an EAS detection system. The methods comprise: detecting an Active Security Tag (“AST”) in an EAS detection zone; determining whether AST is coupled to an object identified in a list; and performing operations when a determination is made that AST is coupled to a listed object. The operations involve: accessing sensor data generated by at least one sensor device disposed on/near display equipment associated with the listed object; processing the sensor data to determine whether a person was within a defined distance range of AST during a period of time immediately preceding the detecting; concluding that a false alarm scenario exists when the sensor data indicates that a person was not within the defined distance range of AST during the period of time; and suppressing alarm issuance by the EAS detection system in response to the false alarm scenario conclusion.

In a method for locating a hand-held power tool using a communications unit, the communications unit receives an activation signal. A locating signal is triggered when the activation signal is received.

A system for monitoring and controlling shopping cart usage comprises a wheel assembly that attaches to a shopping cart. In some embodiments the wheel assembly includes a wheel, a brake that can be activated to inhibit rotation of the wheel, a controller that controls the brake, a VLF receiver, and an RF transceiver. The RF transceiver may, for example, operate in a 2.4 GHz frequency band. In some implementations, the RF transceiver may be used to detect entry of the shopping cart into a checkout area of the store, and the VLF receiver may be used to detect that the shopping cart is exiting the store. The controller may activate the brake if the shopping cart attempts to exit the store without first passing through a checkout area.

Provided is a parking space information system including at least one sensor set up for detecting vehicle data of vehicles in the parking space, an evaluation device set up for receiving the detected vehicle data and for determining a drive type of the vehicle depending on the detected vehicle data, and set up for outputting the determined drive type.

A method and associated system for managing an item in a place. Positional information about an operating object and positional information about the item is monitored at regular intervals by a receiver receiving locational coordinates of a tag associated with the item and a tag carried by the operating object. Based on the positional information, it is detected i) that the item in the place is being moved, (ii) that the operating object inside the place is moving, (iii) a distance between the location of the operating object and the item, and (iv) that the operating object inside the place and the item in the place are within a previously specified distance of each other. After the previous detections, it is determined that the operating object has illegitimately taken the item, which triggers preventing the operating object from removing the item from the place.

A wireless tracking system comprises a plurality of tape nodes associated with entities in an environment. The entities may comprise, for example, users, machinery, ingress and egress points of the environment. The tape nodes are configured to detect interactions that occur within the environment. Interactions may be defined based on one or more conditions, such as threshold durations or proximities between tape nodes. Interactions are stored by the tape nodes, uploaded to the wireless tracking system, and may be retrieved at a later time responsive to an event occurring, such as suspected contamination or incorrect use of machinery.

Systems and methods of tracking attributes of objects, including a sensor configured to detect data related to one or more attributes of the object, a tracking device attachable to the object to transmit data detected by the sensor, a software application modifiable by a user, the software application being configured to receive transmitted data from the tracking device, firmware within a chip on the tracking device configured to determine a frequency of data transmissions from the tracking device to the software application based on transmission rules related to characteristics of transmitted data, and a display configured to show the frequency of data transmissions from the tracking device to the software application.

An electronic article surveillance (EAS) system and method of operating the system, including one or more processors and memory. The memory contains instructions to cause the processors to receive data from a first sensor indicating the presence of an electronic surveillance tag within a first predetermined space, receive data from a second sensor including tracking information that indicates a distance of the second sensor from a person in possession of the electronic surveillance tag within a second predetermined space, determine a speed and/or direction of movement of the person based on the data from the second sensor, and detect a theft event and execute an alarm routine based on the presence of the electronic surveillance tag within the first predetermined space and the speed and/or direction of movement of the person within the second predetermined space.

A system for detecting placement or misplacement of an object includes a wireless tag; a first electronic device (“FED”) associated with the tag to automatically detect signals from the tag, determine a position of the FED, transmit the position and status to an external electronic device or network (“EED”) in response to the status indicating that the tag and the FED are within a predetermined range, and transmit the position and status to the EED in response to the status indicating that the tag and the FED are outside of the predetermined range; and a second electronic device (“SED”) that is unassociated with the tag to automatically detect signals from the tag, determine a position of the SED, determine an identifier for the tag using the signals, and transmit the position of the SED and the identifier to the EED.