System for communicating with and monitoring movement of human-propelled vehicles
DCFirst Claim
1. A method of inhibiting theft of merchandise contained in a shopping cart, the method comprising:
- monitoring a location of a shopping cart in a store via bi-directional radio frequency communications with communication circuitry of the shopping cart;
automatically determining whether the shopping cart is authorized to exit the store based, at least in part, on whether the shopping cart passed through a checkout zone before proceeding to an exit of the store, as determined from said monitoring, said checkout zone corresponding in location to a checkout area of the store, and being created via radio frequency transmissions from an antenna mounted at said checkout area, wherein the automatic determination of whether the shopping cart is authorized to exit the store is made without determining whether a payment transaction has actually occurred; and
when the shopping cart is determined to not be authorized to exit the store, automatically taking an action to inhibit theft.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A vehicle tracking system includes a wheel containing sensor circuitry capable of sensing various types of conditions, such as wheel rotation, wheel vibration caused by skidding, and specific electromagnetic and/or magnetic signals indicative of particular wheel locations. The sensor circuitry is coupled to an RF transceiver, which may but need not be included within the wheel. The wheel may also include a brake mechanism. In one embodiment, the wheels are placed on shopping carts and are used to collect and monitor shopping cart status and location data via a wireless network. The collected data may be used for various purposes, such as locking the wheel of an exiting cart if the customer has not paid, estimating numbers of queued carts, stopping wheel skid events that occur during mechanized cart retrieval, store planning, and providing location-based messaging to customers.
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Citations
29 Claims
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1. A method of inhibiting theft of merchandise contained in a shopping cart, the method comprising:
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monitoring a location of a shopping cart in a store via bi-directional radio frequency communications with communication circuitry of the shopping cart; automatically determining whether the shopping cart is authorized to exit the store based, at least in part, on whether the shopping cart passed through a checkout zone before proceeding to an exit of the store, as determined from said monitoring, said checkout zone corresponding in location to a checkout area of the store, and being created via radio frequency transmissions from an antenna mounted at said checkout area, wherein the automatic determination of whether the shopping cart is authorized to exit the store is made without determining whether a payment transaction has actually occurred; and when the shopping cart is determined to not be authorized to exit the store, automatically taking an action to inhibit theft. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29)
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8. A method of inhibiting theft of merchandise contained in a shopping cart, the method comprising:
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monitoring a location of a shopping cart in a store via bi-directional radio frequency communications with communication circuitry of the shopping cart; automatically determining whether the shopping cart is authorized to exit the store based, at least in part, on whether the shopping cart passed through a checkout zone before proceeding to an exit of the store, as determined from said monitoring, said checkout zone corresponding in location to a checkout area of the store, and being created via radio frequency transmissions from an antenna mounted at said checkout area; and when the shopping cart is determined to not be authorized to exit the store, automatically taking an action to inhibit theft; wherein automatically determining whether the shopping cart is authorized to exit the store further comprises assessing whether the shopping cart passed through a checkout lane associated with said checkout zone, and analyzing data reflective of a speed at which the shopping cart passed through the checkout lane, said data reflective of speed generated via sensor circuitry of said shopping cart.
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12. A system comprising communication circuitry that attaches to a shopping cart, and comprising a plurality of devices that are adapted to be mounted to structures in a vicinity of a store, said devices configured to communicate wirelessly with the communication circuitry of the shopping cart, said system operative to inhibit theft of merchandise contained in the shopping cart by at least:
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monitoring a location of the shopping cart via bi-directional radio frequency communications between said devices and the communication circuitry; automatically determining whether the shopping cart is authorized to exit the store based, at least in part, on whether the shopping cart passed through a checkout zone before proceeding to an exit of the store, as determined from said monitoring, said checkout zone corresponding in location to a checkout area of the store, and being created via radio frequency transmissions from an antenna mounted at said checkout area, wherein the system is configured to determine whether the shopping cart is authorized to exit the store without determining whether a payment transaction has actually occurred; and when the shopping cart is determined to not be authorized to exit the store, automatically taking an action to inhibit theft. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 18, 19)
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16. A system comprising communication circuitry that attaches to a shopping cart, and comprising a plurality of devices that are adapted to be mounted to structures in a vicinity of a store, said devices configured to communicate wirelessly with the communication circuitry of the shopping cart, said system operative to inhibit theft of merchandise contained in the shopping cart by at least:
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monitoring a location of the shopping cart via bi-directional radio frequency communications between said devices and the communication circuitry; automatically determining whether the shopping cart is authorized to exit the store based, at least in part, on whether the shopping cart passed through a checkout zone before proceeding to an exit of the store, as determined from said monitoring, said checkout zone corresponding in location to a checkout area of the store, and being created via radio frequency transmissions from an antenna mounted at said checkout area; and when the shopping cart is determined to not be authorized to exit the store, automatically taking an action to inhibit theft; wherein the system is additionally operative, in determining whether the shopping cart is authorized to exit the store, to determine whether a check-out register associated with said checkout zone was active when the shopping cart passed through the checkout zone.
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17. A system comprising communication circuitry that attaches to a shopping cart, a rotation sensor that senses rotation of a wheel of the shopping cart, and a plurality of devices that are adapted to be mounted to structures in a vicinity of a store, said devices configured to communicate wirelessly with the communication circuitry of the shopping cart, said system operative to inhibit theft of merchandise contained in the shopping cart by at least:
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monitoring a location of the shopping cart via bi-directional radio frequency communications between said devices and the communication circuitry; automatically determining whether the shopping cart is authorized to exit the store based, at least in part, on whether the shopping cart passed through a checkout zone before proceeding to an exit of the store, as determined from said monitoring, said checkout zone corresponding in location to a checkout area of the store, and being created via radio frequency transmissions from an antenna mounted at said checkout area, wherein the system is additionally operative to take into consideration, in determining whether the shopping cart is authorized to exit the store, a speed of the shopping cart in said checkout area as measured via said rotation sensor; and when the shopping cart is determined to not be authorized to exit the store, automatically taking an action to inhibit theft.
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26. A , A method of inhibiting theft of merchandise contained in a shopping cart, the method comprising:
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monitoring a location of a shopping cart in a store via bi-directional radio frequency communications with communication circuitry of the shopping cart; automatically determining whether the shopping cart is authorized to exit the store based, at least in part, on whether the shopping cart passed through a checkout zone before proceeding to an exit of the store, as determined from said monitoring, said checkout zone corresponding in location to a checkout area of the store, and being created via radio frequency transmissions from an antenna mounted at said checkout area; and when the shopping cart is determined to not be authorized to exit the store, automatically taking an action to inhibit theft; wherein the antenna is connected to an access point that communicates bi-directionally with the communication circuitry of the shopping cart via said antenna, and the method comprises the access point determining whether a checkout register associated with the checkout zone is active.
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Specification