Simple theft deterrent for electronic control modules
First Claim
1. A method of activating and deactivating a theft guard system that deters theft of an electronic device, said method comprising the steps of:
- setting a predetermined theft guard state, said theft guard state being set by a first control of the device, said first control being used in the normal operation of the device that is unrelated to the theft guard system during the normal operation of the device such that the theft guard state is a normal state of the device during the normal operation of the device; and
activating a theft guard condition, said step of activating a theft guard condition including activating a second control of the device, said second control being used in the normal operation of the device and being unrelated to the theft guard system during the normal operation of the device, said step of activating a theft guard condition further including storing the theft guard state in a memory to provide a stored theft guard state, said step of activating the theft guard condition further including at least partially disabling the electronic device.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic theft deterrent system for deterring theft of an electronic device, such as a radio associated with a vehicle, that takes advantage of already existing device parameters, controls and displays associated with the device. When used as a theft deterrent system for the vehicle radio, a radio operator will first activate a frequency control switch in order to set an arbitrary frequency in the display of the radio. Next, a predetermined set of theft key radio control buttons are activated for a predetermined time in order to cause the arbitrary frequency that is displayed to be stored in a non-volatile memory. When the frequency is stored, the radio volume is impaired, but the total operation of the radio is not disabled. When the operator wishes to restore the radio to its normal operating condition, the operator will reset the arbitrary frequency, and reactivate the theft key control buttons. If the currently displayed frequency setting matches the stored frequency setting in the memory, the radio will be removed from the theft guarded condition, and the audio portion of the radio will be restored. If successive attempts to restore the radio to its normal operating conditions fail, an attempts counter will cause the radio to remain in its impaired state until an authorized service agent is able to restore the operation of the radio.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A method of activating and deactivating a theft guard system that deters theft of an electronic device, said method comprising the steps of:
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setting a predetermined theft guard state, said theft guard state being set by a first control of the device, said first control being used in the normal operation of the device that is unrelated to the theft guard system during the normal operation of the device such that the theft guard state is a normal state of the device during the normal operation of the device; and activating a theft guard condition, said step of activating a theft guard condition including activating a second control of the device, said second control being used in the normal operation of the device and being unrelated to the theft guard system during the normal operation of the device, said step of activating a theft guard condition further including storing the theft guard state in a memory to provide a stored theft guard state, said step of activating the theft guard condition further including at least partially disabling the electronic device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method of activating and deactivating a theft guard system that deters theft of a radio associated with a vehicle, said method comprising the steps of:
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activating a radio frequency control switch so as to display an arbitrary frequency on a display device associated with the radio; activating a theft guard switch associated with the radio so as to store the arbitrary frequency in a memory and provide a stored frequency in order to put the radio in a theft guard condition where the radio is at least partially impaired, said theft guard switch being a switch used in the normal operation of the radio; reactivating the radio frequency control switch so as to redisplay the arbitrary frequency on the display device in order to provide a current frequency; reactivating the theft guard switch so as to compare the stored frequency with the current frequency; and removing the radio from the theft guard condition if the stored frequency matches the current frequency. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A theft guard system for deterring the theft of an electronic device, said theft guard system comprising:
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first control means for setting a predetermined theft guard state, said first control means being used in the normal operation of the device that is unrelated to the theft guard system during the normal operation of the device such that the theft guard state is a normal state of the device during the normal operation of the device; and second control means for activating a theft guard condition, said second control means being used in the normal operation of the device and being unrelated to the theft guard system during the normal operation of the device, wherein activating the second control means causes the theft guard state to be stored in a memory as a stored theft guard state and wherein the theft guard condition causes the electronic device to be at least partially disabled. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A method of activating and deactivating a theft guard system that deters theft of a radio associated with a vehicle, said method comprising the steps of:
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activating a radio frequency control switch so as to display an arbitrary frequency on a display device associated with the radio; activating a combination of frequency preselect switches associated with the radio so as to store the arbitrary frequency in a memory and provide a stored frequency in order to put the radio in a theft guard condition where the radio is at least partially impaired, said frequency preselect switches being switches used to set preselected frequencies in the normal operation of the radio; reactivating the radio frequency control switch so as to redisplay the arbitrary frequency on the display device in order to provide a current frequency; reactivating the combination of frequency preselect switches so as to compare the stored frequency with the current frequency; removing the radio from the theft guard condition if the stored frequency matches the current frequency; and incrementing an attempts counter each time the step of reactivating the combination of frequency preselect switches occurs and the current frequency does not match the stored frequency.
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Specification