Anti-theft device for protecting electronic equipment
DCFirst Claim
1. Method of protecting portable electronic equipment against unauthorized power-up, said electronic equipment deriving its power from household-type wiring and having a power supply component, comprising:
- providing the power supply component of the electronic equipment with a decoder, said decoder permitting powering-up the electronic equipment only upon receipt of an externally-generated unique code; and
connecting an encoder-emitter to the household-type wiring for transmitting the unique code to the decoder;
wherein;
the decoder permits repeated powering-up of the electronic equipment so long as the decoder remains connected to the household-type wiring; and
the decoder prohibits subsequent powering-up of the electronic equipment in the event that the household-type wiring discontinues to deliver power to the electronic equipment or in the event that the decoder is disconnected from the household-type wiring.
4 Assignments
Litigations
2 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Security (e.g., theft-disincentive) for portable electronic appliances is provided by integrating a decoder into the power supply of an electronic appliance which prevents the electronic appliance from being powered up in the absence of a unique code impressed by an emitter on the power lines feeding power to the electronic appliance, and permits the electronic appliance having a decoder to be powered up (i.e., power-uppable) only in the presence of the unique code. Electronic appliances having the detector incorporated (e.g., integrated) therein are termed "protected equipment". The emitter may be "fixed" by hard-wiring same to the power lines in a household (e.g., behind a switch or receptacle face plate), or may be "portable") so that the user can transport and use (e.g., power up) the protected equipment at an other location simply by plugging the emitter into a receptacle at the other location and located in a safe place. The detector is integrated into the protected equipment in such a manner that bypassing its function (or removing the decoder) will render the equipment inoperable (or, would be cost prohibitive).
41 Citations
34 Claims
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1. Method of protecting portable electronic equipment against unauthorized power-up, said electronic equipment deriving its power from household-type wiring and having a power supply component, comprising:
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providing the power supply component of the electronic equipment with a decoder, said decoder permitting powering-up the electronic equipment only upon receipt of an externally-generated unique code; and connecting an encoder-emitter to the household-type wiring for transmitting the unique code to the decoder; wherein; the decoder permits repeated powering-up of the electronic equipment so long as the decoder remains connected to the household-type wiring; and the decoder prohibits subsequent powering-up of the electronic equipment in the event that the household-type wiring discontinues to deliver power to the electronic equipment or in the event that the decoder is disconnected from the household-type wiring. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. Method of providing security for portable electronic equipment comprising:
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providing a unique predetermined multi-digit security code selectively upon power up; providing electronic equipment with a detector, said detector permitting the electronic equipment to be powered up only if the unique code is received; and providing an emitter for externally transmitting the unique code to the detector. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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17. An anti-theft device for protecting portable electronic equipment comprising:
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an automatic unique predetermined multi-digit first security code; send means operably associated with a transmitter means; first memory means for storing said first code; transmitter means, connected to said first memory means, for communicating said first code to said electronic equipment; receiver means, disposed within said electronic equipment, for receiving said first code transmitted from said transmitter means; second memory means, connected to said receiver means, for storing a second code; circuitry, connected to said second memory means and to said receiver, for comparing said second code with said received first code; and circuitry for enabling the powering up of said electronic equipment only when said circuitry for comparing determines that said second code matches said first code. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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21. An anti-theft device, as claimed in 17, wherein the receiver further comprises:
clean signal logic for disabling the receiver means when the power lines are noisy.
Specification