Anti-theft product rack and method
First Claim
1. A method of indicating removal of product units from a product unit rack including the steps of:
- monitoring a weight of said rack;
detecting a change in said weight;
calculating a number of product units removed from said rack corresponding to said change in weight;
providing an indication of unauthorized removal if said number of product units is greater than a limit; and
generating an acknowledgement of authorized removal if said number of product units removed from said rack is greater than zero and less than or equal to said limit.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The anti-theft product rack continuously monitors the weight of the rack including individual product units. When a weight deviation is detected, it is characterized as either a disturbance or as the removal of one or more product units. An alarm is sounded if the rack is continuously disturbed for a programmable number of continuous weight sensing cycles, or if a programmable number of disturbances occur during a programmable period of time. In addition, an alarm is sounded if the number of product units detected as being removed at one time exceeds a programmable limit. Finally, if the number of detected product units removed exceeds a programmable number during a programmable period of time, an alarm is sounded. The product display rack presents no physical barriers to product removal and requires no intervention of sales personnel for product removal. Thus, the present invention presents an aesthetically pleasing product rack while providing a high degree of protection against shoplifting or employee theft.
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Citations
104 Claims
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1. A method of indicating removal of product units from a product unit rack including the steps of:
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monitoring a weight of said rack; detecting a change in said weight; calculating a number of product units removed from said rack corresponding to said change in weight; providing an indication of unauthorized removal if said number of product units is greater than a limit; and generating an acknowledgement of authorized removal if said number of product units removed from said rack is greater than zero and less than or equal to said limit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of indicating removal of product units from a product unit rack including the steps of:
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monitoring the weight of said rack; detecting changes in said weight; calculating a number of product units removed from said rack corresponding to each said change; and providing an indication of removal if a sum of said number of product units is greater than a limit during a time period. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method of indicating disturbance of a product rack containing product units including the steps of:
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monitoring the weight of said rack; detecting changes in said weight; determining a number of weight changes which are less in magnitude than a weight change corresponding to removal of a product unit; providing an indication of disturbance if said number is greater than a limit during a time period. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A method of indicating disturbance of a product rack containing product units including the steps of:
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consecutively sampling the weight of said rack; calculating differences between said consecutive samples; providing an indication of disturbance if a successive number of differences, greater than a limit number, are each greater than a first threshold and less than a second threshold. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. An anti-theft apparatus for use in a product unit rack, or the like, including:
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means for measuring a weight of a group of product units; means for detecting a change in said weight; means for calculating a number of product units removed from said group according to a magnitude of said change; means for indicating theft if said number of product units removed exceeds a limit; and means for acknowledge legitimate removal if said number of product units removed is greater than zero and less than or equal to said limit. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34)
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35. An anti-theft apparatus for use in a product unit rack, or the like, including:
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means for measuring a weight of a group of product units; means for detecting changes in said weight; means for calculating a number of product units removed from said group for each said change according to a magnitude of each said change; means for calculating a sum of said numbers of product units for each said change occurring during a time period; and means for indicating theft if said sum is greater than a limit.
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36. An anti-theft apparatus for use in a product unit rack, or the like, including:
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means for measuring a weight of a group of product units; means for detecting changes in said weight; means for detecting a number of weight changes having magnitudes less than a predetermined value, said predetermined value corresponding to removal of one product unit from said group; means for indicating product unit theft if said number is greater than a limit during a time period.
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37. An apparatus for detecting theft of product units from a group of product units comprising:
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means for sampling a weight of a group of product units at a substantially constant rate; means for calculating differences between successive weight samples; means for indicating theft of product units from said group if a number of said differences between successive weight samples exceeds a limit.
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38. A method of indicating unauthorized removal of product units from a product unit rack including the steps of:
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monitoring a weight of said rack; detecting a disturbance of said rack, according to monitored weight; calculating a number of product units removed from said rack corresponding to a difference in monitored weights before and after said disturbance; and providing an indication of unauthorized removal if said number of product units removed from said rack is greater than a programmable limit. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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49. A method of indicating removal of product units from a product unit rack including the steps of:
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monitoring a weight of said rack; detecting changes in said weight; calculating a number of product units removed from said rack corresponding to each said change; and providing an indication of removal if a sum of said number of product units is greater than a programmable limit during a programmable time period. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59)
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60. A method of indicating disturbance of a product rack containing product units including the steps of:
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monitoring a weight of said rack; detecting changes in said weight; determining a number of weight changes which are less in magnitude than a weight change corresponding to removal of a product unit; providing an indication of disturbance if said number is greater than a programmable limit during a programmable time period. - View Dependent Claims (61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70)
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71. A method of indicating disturbance of a product rack containing product units including the steps of:
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consecutively sampling a weight of said rack; calculating differences between consecutive weight samples; providing an indication of disturbance if a successive number of differences, greater than a programmable limit, are each greater than a first threshold and less than a second threshold. - View Dependent Claims (72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82)
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83. A method of indicating theft of product units from a product unit rack including the steps of:
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monitoring a weight of said rack including said product units; detecting changes in said weight; calculating a number of product units removed corresponding to each said change; providing a first indication of theft if said number of product units removed is greater than a first limit; providing a second indication of theft if, during a first time period, said number of product units removed is greater than a second limit; providing a third indication of theft if a number of consecutive detected weight changes, not corresponding to product unit removal, exceeds a third limit; and providing a fourth indication of theft if a number of detected weight changes, not corresponding to product unit removal, exceeds a fourth limit during a second time period. - View Dependent Claims (84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93)
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94. An anti-theft product unit rack comprising:
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a weight sensor for sensing a weight of said rack including said product units; means for detecting changes in said weight; means for calculating a number of product units removed from said rack for each detected change in weight; means for indicating theft if said calculated number for a given change is greater than a first limit; means for calculating a sum of numbers of product units removed for a series of said detected changes in weight; means for indicating theft if said sum is greater than a second limit during a time period. - View Dependent Claims (95, 96, 97, 98, 99)
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100. An anti-theft product unit rack comprising:
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means for sensing a weight of said rack including said product units; means for detecting changes in said weight; means for calculating respective magnitudes of said detected changes; means for calculating a number of product units removed from said rack corresponding to each said change according to a respective magnitude; means for providing an indication of theft if said number of product units for a change exceeds a first limit; means for providing an indication of theft if a sum of numbers of product units for changes occurring during a first time period exceeds a second limit; and means for providing an indication of theft if a number of weight changes, having a respective magnitude indicating removal of no product units, exceeds a third limit during a second time period.
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101. An anti-theft apparatus for use in a product unit rack, or the like, including:
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means for measuring a weight of a group of product units; means, responsive to said means for measuring, for detecting disturbance of said group of product units; means, responsive to said means for detecting disturbance, for calculating a number of product units removed from said group according to a difference between a measured weight of said group before a detected disturbance and a measured weight of said group after said detected disturbance; and means for indicating theft if said number of product units removed from said group exceeds a limit.
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102. An anti-theft apparatus for use in a product unit rack, or the like, including:
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means for measuring a weight of a group of product units; means for detecting changes in said weight; means for calculating a number of product units removed from said group for each said change according to a magnitude of each said change; means for calculating a sum of said numbers of product units for each said change occurring during a programmable time period; and means for indicating theft if said sum is greater than a programmable limit.
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103. An anti-theft apparatus for use in a product unit rack, or the like, including:
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means for measuring a weight of a group of product units; means for detecting changes in said weight; means for detecting a number of weight changes having magnitudes less than a predetermined value, said predetermined value corresponding to removal of one product unit from said group; and means for indicating product unit theft if said number is greater than a programmable limit during a programmable time period.
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104. An apparatus for detecting theft of product units from a group of product units comprising:
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means for sampling a weight of a group of product units at a substantially constant rate; means for calculating differences between successive weight samples; means for indicating theft of product units from said group if a number of said differences between successive weight samples exceeds a programmable limit.
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Specification