UNIFIED SECURITY DEVICE

• US 20200134998A1
• Filed: 10/24/2019
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sensormatic Electronics LLC (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Original Assignee: Sensormatic Electronics LLC (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Inventors: Trivelpiece, Steve E., Trivelpiece, Craig E., Torrecilla, David, Bergman, Adam S.
• Granted Patent: US 11,295,590 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2411 Tag deactivation
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2417 having a radio frequency identification chip
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2448 Tag with at least dual detection means, e.g. combined inductive and ferromagnetic tags, dual frequencies within a single technology, tampering detection or signalling means on the tag
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/246 Check out systems combined with EAS, e.g. price information stored on EAS tag anti-theft systems in point of sale systems G07G3/003
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2468 Antenna in system and the related signal processing
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2482 EAS methods, e.g. description of flow chart of the detection procedure
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

Systems and methods for operating a Unified Security Device (“USD”). The methods comprise: receiving an Electronic Article Surveillance (“EAS”) interrogation signal with an antenna of the USD; processing the EAS interrogation signal using a processor unit of the USD; using the processor unit to generate an EAS response signal that emulates a response signal produced by an Acousto-Magnetic (AM) type of EAS security tag, in response to the EAS interrogation signal; and communicating the EAS response signal from the USD.

Claims

1. A method of operating a Unified Security Device (“

USD”

), comprising;

receiving an Electronic Article Surveillance (“

EAS”

) interrogation signal with an antenna of the USD;

processing the EAS interrogation signal using a processor unit of the USD;

using the processor unit to generate an EAS response signal that emulates a response signal produced by an Acousto-Magnetic (AM) type of EAS security tag, in response to the EAS interrogation signal; and

communicating the EAS response signal from the USD.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising using the processor unit to facilitate at least one of Radio Frequency Identification (“

RFID”

) communication operations and Near Field Communication (“

NFC”

) communication operations.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising receiving, by the USD, a first command signal via an RFID communication or an NFC communication.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising performing operations by the USD to disable at least one of an EAS communication function and an RFID communication function, in response to the first command signal.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein a digital processing unit control of the USD is used to disable the at least one of an EAS communication function and an RFID communication function, in response to the first command signal.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the first command signal is communicated to the USD from a Point-Of-Sale (“

POS”

) device or a personal electronic device.

7. The method according to claim 4, further comprising:

receiving, by the USD, a second command signal via an RFID communication or an NFC communication; and

performing operations by the USD to re-enable at least the EAS communication function, in response to the second command signal.

8. The method according to claim 2, further comprising performing operations by the USD to harvest energy from EAS signals.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising using the harvested energy to cause the USD to selectively transition operational modes from a passive mode to a Battery Assisted Passive (“

BAP”

) mode for Radio Frequency Identification (“

RFID”

) communications.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the USD comprises a thread incorporated into an item or is coupled to a swing ticket attached to the item.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the USD comprises a single Integrated Circuit (“

IC”

) chip that performs Electronic Article Surveillance (“

EAS”

) communication operations, Radio Frequency Identification (“

RFID”

) communication operations, and Near Field Communication (“

NFC”

) operations.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the USD comprises a Software Defined Radio (“

SDR”

).

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the EAS communication operations are used for theft prevention, the RFID communication operations are used for inventorying purposes, and the NFC communication operations are used for purchase transaction purposes.

14. The method according to claim 1, further comprising performing operations by the USD to obtain a measurement value for a strength of or a change in magnetic flux of a magnetic field being generated by an external device.

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising using the measurement value to determine whether the USD is in proximity to a tag detacher.

16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising performing operations by the USD to deactivate at least one of an EAS communication function and a Radio Frequency Identification (“

RFID”

) function, when a determination is made that the USD is in proximity to the tag detacher.

17. A Unified Security Device (“

USD”

), comprising;

an antenna to receive an Electronic Article Surveillance (“

EAS”

) interrogation signal;

a processor unit that

processes the EAS interrogation signal,

generates an EAS response signal that emulates a response signal produced by an Acousto-Magnetic (AM) type of EAS security tag, in response to the EAS interrogation signal, and

causes the EAS response signal to be communicated from the USD using the antenna.

18. The USD according to claim 17, wherein the processor unit facilitates at least one of Radio Frequency Identification (“

RFID”

) communication operations and Near Field Communication (“

NFC”

) communication operations.

19. The USD according to claim 18, wherein the USD receives a first command signal via an RFID communication or an NFC communication.

20. The USD according to claim 19, wherein the USD performs operations to disable at least one of an EAS communication function and an RFID communication function, in response to the first command signal.

21. The USD according to claim 20, wherein a digital processing unit control of the USD is used to disable the at least one of an EAS communication function and an RFID communication function, in response to the first command signal.

22. The USD according to claim 20, wherein the first command signal is received from a Point-Of-Sale (“

POS”

) device or a personal electronic device.

23. The USD according to claim 20, wherein the USD further:

receives a second command signal via an RFID communication or an NFC communication; and

performs operations to re-enable at least the EAS communication function, in response to the second command signal.

24. The USD according to claim 18, wherein the USD further harvests energy from EAS signals.

25. The USD according to claim 24, wherein the harvested energy is used to cause the USD to selectively transition operational modes from a passive mode to a Battery Assisted Passive (“

BAP”

) mode for Radio Frequency Identification (“

RFID”

) communications.

26. The USD according to claim 17, wherein the USD comprises a thread incorporated into an item or is coupled to a swing ticket attached to the item.

27. The USD according to claim 17, wherein the USD comprises a single Integrated Circuit (“

IC”

) chip that performs Electronic Article Surveillance (“

EAS”

) communication operations, Radio Frequency Identification (“

RFID”

) communication operations, and Near Field Communication (“

NFC”

) operations.

28. The USD according to claim 27, wherein the USD comprises a Software Defined Radio (“

SDR”

).

29. The USD according to claim 27, wherein the EAS communication operations are used for theft prevention, the RFID communication operations are used for inventorying purposes, and the NFC communication operations are used for purchase transaction purposes.

30. The USD according to claim 27, wherein the USD further obtains a measurement value for a strength of or a change in magnetic flux of a magnetic field being generated by an external device.

31. The USD according to claim 30, wherein the measurement value is used to determine whether the USD is in proximity to a tag detacher.

32. The USD according to claim 31, wherein the USD further deactivates at least one of an EAS communication function and a Radio Frequency Identification (“

RFID”

) function, when a determination is made that the USD is in proximity to the tag detacher.

33. A Unified Security Device (“

USD”

), comprising;

at least one antenna;

a Radio Frequency (“

RF”

) circuit including at least one RF detector configured to receive an RF signal from the at least one antenna;

a processor unit configured to;

receive the RF signal from the at least one antenna,

process the RF signal,

generate a responsive RF signal in accordance with any one of a plurality of different predetermined communication protocols, and

couple the responsive signal to the at least one antenna;

wherein the plurality of different predetermined communication protocols are selected from the group consisting of a Radio Frequency Identification (“

RFID”

) communication protocol, a Near Field Communication (“

NFC”

) protocol, and an Electronic Article Surveillance (“

EAS”

) communication protocol.

34. The USD according to claim 33, wherein the at least one antenna, the RF circuit, and the processor unit are disposed on a single integrated circuit die.

35. The USD according to claim 34, further comprising at least one energy harvesting circuit coupled to receive electromagnetic energy from an external source and use the electromagnetic energy to provide primary power to at least the processor unit.

36. The USD according to claim 34, wherein the processor unit is responsive to at least one control signal communicated to the processor in accordance with at least one of the NFC protocol and the RFID communication protocols.

37. The USD according to claim 36, wherein the processor unit is responsive to the at least one control signal to selectively disable the USD from communicating in accordance with at least one of the EAS communication protocol and the RFID communication protocol.

38. The USD according to claim 34, wherein the RF circuit is coupled to at least one antenna which is not disposed on the single integrated circuit die.

39. The USD according to claim 33, wherein the processor unit is responsive to an NFC communication session to communicate RFID tag data using the NFC communication protocol.

40. The USD according to claim 33, wherein the processor unit is configured to communicate with an external device in an NFC or RFID communication session using an encrypted data mode.