Importance

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Abstract

The present invention describes various methods and apparatus to increase efficiency and sales of a Newspaper Rack. Newspaper Racks are generally placed within a close proximity to each other, and generally less than ½ mile apart providing the unique ability to create a local network. With hardware and monthly operation costs are critical within the industry, the present invention utilizes local network(s) which transmits information to a collector. The local network(s) can be a star network, a mesh network, or a trunking network. The collector uploads the information via any of a number of longer-range transmission methods, including cellular, paging, Wi-Fi, Internet, dial-up modem, and others. Using a local network shares the upload costs, drastically reducing the operating costs for the Newspaper Company. Because the Newspaper Racks are deployed throughout a region, it is convenient to utilize the local network created by the Newspaper Rack monitoring system to additionally monitor other objects. This cost effective network can be utilized for monitoring other objects that are not within range for a local network, by networking unlike objects together.

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First Claim