Integrated electronic article surveillance and people counting system
First Claim
1. An integrated electronic article surveillance (EAS) and people counting system comprising:
- an EAS system configured to detect the presence of an active EAS marker in an interrogation zone of at least one passageway of an establishment and to provide an EAS data signal representative of EAS data;
a people counting system configured to count people who pass through said at least one passageway and to provide a people count signal representative of people count data; and
an alarm management unit configured to accept said EAS data signal and said people count signal and to correlate said EAS data signal with said people count signal to provide a correlated output signal, said EAS system being configured to operate in a first power state and a second power state, wherein said EAS system consumes less power in said second power state than said first power state, and wherein said EAS system is configured to enter said second power state when said people count signal is representative of less than a first predetermined people count over a first predetermined time interval.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An integrated electronic article surveillance (EAS) and people counting system including an EAS system, a people counting system, and an alarm management unit. The alarm management unit accepts the EAS data signal from the EAS system and a people count signal from the people counting system for facilitating correlation of EAS and people count data. A method of monitoring a passageway and an alarm management unit associated with an integrated system are also provided. There is also provided a people counting system for determining a direction of travel of people including first and second people detection devices and a controller. The controller provides an output representative of a direction of travel in response to the outputs of the first and second people detection devices.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. An integrated electronic article surveillance (EAS) and people counting system comprising:
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an EAS system configured to detect the presence of an active EAS marker in an interrogation zone of at least one passageway of an establishment and to provide an EAS data signal representative of EAS data; a people counting system configured to count people who pass through said at least one passageway and to provide a people count signal representative of people count data; and an alarm management unit configured to accept said EAS data signal and said people count signal and to correlate said EAS data signal with said people count signal to provide a correlated output signal, said EAS system being configured to operate in a first power state and a second power state, wherein said EAS system consumes less power in said second power state than said first power state, and wherein said EAS system is configured to enter said second power state when said people count signal is representative of less than a first predetermined people count over a first predetermined time interval. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A people counting system for determining a direction of travel of people, said system comprising:
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a first people detection device configured to detect passage of people through an associated passageway and provide a first people detection signal; a second people detection device configured to detect said passage of people through said associated passageway and provide a second people detection signal, said second people detection device mounted a predetermined distance from said first detection device; and a controller configured to receive said first and second people detection signals and provide an output representative of a direction of travel in response to said first and second people detection signals, said controller being configured to indicate a first direction of travel if said first signal is received a predetermined time interval before said second signal. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12)
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13. A machine readable medium whose contents cause a computer system to perform a method of determining a direction of travel of people comprising:
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receiving a first people count signal from a first people counting device and a second people count signal from a second people counting device, wherein said first people counting device is mounted a predetermined distance from said second people counting device; and determining said direction of travel based on which of said first people counting device and second people counting system is triggered first, said direction of travel being a first direction if said first people detection device is triggered first and said direction of travel is a second direction if said second people detection device is triggered a predetermined time interval before said first people detection device.
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Specification