Target Brands, Inc.

Robert F Foster

Robert K Brown

Stacy L Abel

Lew Price

Jennifer Ptak

Neal B DePape

Jason David Reasoner

Edward E Burns

Clare E Kolar

Gregory Allen McDonald

Caroline Louise Slettedahl

Richard Scott Post

Daniel J Geiger

Christopher Michael McGee

Derek Moll

A limited number of items are identified as high-theft items and RFID tags are added to only units of high-theft items. At periodic times during a day, a mobile scanner is taken to each area of a store that contains high-theft items and the mobile scanner is used to read signals from the RFID tags of only the units of high-theft items and thereby generate a periodic inventory count of the high-theft items. The periodic inventory counts for each high-theft item are then electronically stored.

Indexing video for retail investigations

A sting trailer has a camera scaffold concealing hidden cameras in a cargo compartment of the trailer. The camera scaffold conceals cameras and wiring so that the cameras are not visible from the interior of the trailer.

Camera installation for trailer

A status of each camera in a plurality of facilities is requested and is stored in memory. Cameras in different facilities are grouped and for each group, a measure of a quantity of cameras in the group that are not operational is determined based on the status stored for each camera. A user interface is generated that recommends moving all cameras in a group to a new location in each respective facility if the measure of the quantity of cameras that are not operational in the group exceeds a threshold.

Enterprise-wide camera data

A computer-implemented method includes receiving a structure signal strength for a signal generated by a tag on a structure and receiving a product signal strength for a signal generated by a tag on a product. An indication that the product is positioned near the structure based on the received structure signal strength and the received product signal strength is then stored in memory.

RFID tags for locating products

A cover for a mobile device includes an engaging portion for engaging an exterior surface of the mobile device to secure the cover to the mobile device, a back protective panel for protecting a back surface of the mobile device and at least one wall extending from an interior side of the back protective panel and contacting the back surface of the mobile device. A theft-detection device capable of generating a signal in response to passing through a field is positioned on the interior side of the back protective panel such that a height of the theft-detection device is less than a height of the at least one wall.

Mobile device cover with theft protection

A merchandising unit has a merchandise support unit supporting items for sale and an electronic sign. The electronic sign displays a price for correctly stocked items on the merchandise support unit, detects incorrectly stocked items on the merchandise support unit, retrieves a price for the incorrectly stocked items, and alters display information so that the price for the correctly stocked items and the price for the incorrectly stocked items are displayed.

Digital sign with incorrectly stocked item identification

A semi-trailer has a surveillance system located within a hidden compartment of the semi-trailer. At least one external switch is located on an exterior of the semi-trailer and is electrically coupled to at least one subsystem of the surveillance system for controlling the at least one subsystem without controlling the entire surveillance system at once.

Semi-trailer with external switch

A value is stored in memory indicating that an alert is to be issued if more than a threshold quantity of an item is moved out of a location. Instructions to employees to remove more than the threshold quantity of the item from the location are also stored in memory. A signal from at least one sensor is received indicating that an item has been moved out of the location. At least one of an identifier for the item and an identifier for the location is used to locate the instructions to remove more than the threshold quantity of the item from the location. In response to locating the instructions, an alert that would otherwise be issued because more than the threshold quantity of the item was removed from the location is suppressed.

Suppressing alerts for RFID systems

In an illustrative implementation, a system for video storage optimization analyzes user activity to determine how to optimally store video. In a preferred embodiment, a security system records video from a plurality of security cameras and stores the video at the security system and/or a server system, along with associated metadata. The server system monitors user activity, such as live and recorded video viewing behavior, and queries for videos. The server system collects user video viewing behavior statistics, determines trends, and stores both personnel-specific and enterprise-wide settings. An optimization engine analyzes the video info, personnel-specific settings, enterprise-wide settings, and user statistics to determine a storage factor for a video. The optimization engine then determines if a video meets storage factor thresholds and settings for compression or deletion.

Video storage optimization

A method for responding to potential threats at a store, such as theft or vandalism, can include analyzing threat predictors, such as police reports and store reports, to determine a trend of theft or other threats. In some implementations, a organization, such as a chain of retail stores, can include a large number of facilities. Each facility may be capable of producing a significant volume of video data from various video cameras at the facility. In some implementations, the volume of video data monitored from the stores and from the cameras within the stores can be narrowed or reduced by monitoring substantially only the video data from the stores and locations within the stores that were identified as potential targets in the trend of theft.

Theft trend analysis and response

In one embodiment, a chain of custody management application is configured to receive electronic recordings and physical evidence data, associate them with a security event, and automatically create and embed a hash value that aids in the authentication of both the electronic recordings and the physical evidence. A case management system may create a case record for an incident, present a form to the user, and prompt the user to electronically associate an electronic recording and physical evidence to the case record. The case management system optionally issues a call to a verification system which, in this example, automatically creates a first hash value from the electronic recording data and a second hash value from the physical evidence data. The hash values may then be embedded in an electronic case record form that may be printed on demand for use by government authorities.

Hash-based chain of custody preservation

In selected embodiments, a computer-implemented method for analyzing customer movement in a retail environment includes capturing an image of an individual at multiple locations within a retail environment and tracking the elapsed time between the individual's appearance at the various locations. For areas of the store at increased risk for shoplifting, the elapsed times may be compared to predetermined upper and/or lower elapsed time thresholds or windows to determine whether an individual is likely to commit a crime in the retail environment. The thresholds or window may be empirically determined based on analysis of historical security video footage and security incident records.

Movement timestamping and analytics

A sting trailer has a front end-wall located at a first standard trailer length from a rear end of the sting trailer, a false end-wall located at a second standard trailer length from the rear end of the sting trailer, and a hidden compartment located between the front end-wall and the false end-wall.

Sting trailer

A system for monitoring the performance of at least one task associated with operation of a retail store. The system includes at least one monitoring device positioned and adapted to provide images of at least one location within the retail store, with each image showing at least one factor related to performance of the at least one task. A controller is adapted to obtain and store images from the at least one monitoring device. An interface is adapted to enable a user to selectively view stored images and to manually analyze the at least one factor shown in the viewed images to evaluate the performance of the at least one task.

Growing community of inventors

Ramsey, MN, United States of America

Robert F Foster