The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 28, 1998
Filed:
Sep. 12, 1996
Thomas J Clare, Media, PA (US);
Checkpoint Systems, Inc., Thorofare, NJ (US);
Abstract
An electronic article security system monitors articles sold by a retail store to detect shrinkage. The articles are tagged with RF-ID security tags. Each security tag has a unique or semi-unique serial number for identifying individual products. Transaction records generated from point-of-sale terminals in the store are sent to a remote computer. An interrogator and surveillance camera are positioned near the store exit. When an article having the RF-ID security tag is detected as passing through the store exit, the interrogator outputs a signal derived from the security tag. The output signal includes the security tag serial number. Also, the camera takes an image of the person moving the tagged article through the exit. The interrogator output signal is sent to the remote computer. The remote computer periodically compares the transaction records with the interrogator output signals to detect any discrepancies therebetween. The discrepancies are investigated by viewing the captured video images near the time of the discrepancies.