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.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically determining whether the shopping cart is authorized to exit the store further comprises determining whether the shopping cart entered a particular merchandise area of the store before proceeding to said exit.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically determining whether the shopping cart is authorized to exit the store further comprises making a programmatic determination that depends on an amount of time spent by the shopping cart in the store since entry.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the location of the shopping cart comprises monitoring entry of the shopping cart into each of a plurality zones in said store, said zones created via transmissions from respective antennas mounted in the store.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the location of the shopping cart comprises communicating with the communication circuitry via wireless access points mounted in the store to collect data regarding access-point-specific zones entered by the shopping cart.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically determining whether the shopping cart is authorized to exit the store comprises assessing whether the shopping cart passed through a checkout lane associated with said checkout zone.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein automatically determining whether the shopping cart is authorized to exit the store further comprises assessing whether said checkout lane was active when the shopping cart passed through the checkout lane.
8. 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; 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.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically taking an action to inhibit theft comprises activating a motion inhibiting mechanism of said shopping cart.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically taking an action to inhibit theft comprises activating a store alarm.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically taking an action to inhibit theft comprises activating a video surveillance system.
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:
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.
13. The system of claim 12, wherein each of said devices is a wireless access point device.
14. The system of claim 13, wherein each wireless access point creates a respective zone via transmissions from a respective antenna, each zone corresponding to a different location, and the system is operative to monitor the location of the shopping cart, at least in part, by detecting zone entry events in which the shopping cart enters into particular zones.
15. The system of claim 12, wherein the communication circuitry that attaches to the shopping cart is operative to generate received signal strength indicator (RSSI) values based on the radio frequency transmissions from said antenna, and the system is operative to use the RSSI values to assess whether the shopping cart is in said checkout zone.
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:
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.
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:
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.
18. The system of claim 12, wherein the system is configured such that the determination of whether the shopping cart is authorized to exit the store is made programmatically by a processor housed within a wheel of the shopping cart.
19. The system of claim 12, wherein the system is configured such that the determination of whether the shopping cart is authorized to exit the store is made by a node that is separate from the shopping cart.
20. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the location of the shopping cart comprises, via circuitry of said shopping cart:
generating received signal strength indicator (RSSI) values based on radio frequency transmissions received by said shopping cart from said antenna; and
using said RSSI values to determine whether the shopping is in said checkout zone.
21. The method of claim 20, wherein using said RSSI values to determine whether the shopping is in said checkout zone comprises generating a filtered RSSI value from a plurality of said RSSI values.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein using said RSSI values to determine whether the shopping is in said checkout zone further comprises comparing the filtered RSSI value to an RSSI threshold corresponding to said checkout zone.
23. The method of claim 1, wherein the automatic determination of whether the shopping cart is authorized to exit the store is made by data processing circuitry of the shopping cart.
24. The method of claim 1, wherein the automatic determination of whether the shopping cart is authorized to exit the store is made by a node that is separate from the shopping cart, and is based at least partly on data transmitted by the shopping cart.
25. The method of claim 1, wherein the antenna is connected to an access point that communicates bi-directionally with the communication circuitry of the shopping cart via said antenna.
26. A , 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; 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.
27. The method of claim 25, wherein the communication circuitry of the shopping cart notifies the access point of the shopping cart’s entry into the checkout zone.
28. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the location of the shopping cart comprises the shopping cart detecting, and reporting over a wireless network, zone entry events in which the shopping cart enters into particular zones.
29. The method of claim 1, wherein the antenna is a directional antenna.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A magnetic field detecting apparatus comprising:
a magnetic field detecting unit, energized in response to a potential level of an input signal and outputting any one of two signals having different potential levels from each other in response to a peripheral magnetic field;
an energizing control unit, producing a periodic energizing control signal indicative of timing at which said magnetic field detecting unit is energized by employing a clock signal and another signal obtained by frequency-dividing or frequency-multiplying said clock signal, the energizing control unit supplying said produced energizing control signal to said magnetic field detecting unit;
a first inverting unit, inverting the potential level of the output signal of said magnetic field detecting unit; and
an energizing time period control unit, supplying a time period control signal to said energizing control unit, said time period control signal controlling the time period of said energizing control signal in response to the potential level of the output signal of said magnetic field detecting unit and the potential level of the signal obtained by inverting the potential level of said output signal by said first inverting unit;
wherein said energizing time period control unit supplies any one of two pieces of said energizing control signals whose durations and time periods are different from each other, during which said magnetic field detecting unit is not energized, in response to the potential level of said time period control signal supplied from said energizing time period control unit.
2. The magnetic field detecting apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein:
as operation modes of said magnetic field detecting apparatus, a test mode when the operation of said magnetic field detecting apparatus is investigated, and a normal mode when said magnetic field detecting apparatus is operated under normal condition are prepared; and wherein:
both a non-energizing duration and a time period of said energizing control signal when said test mode is selected are shorter than those of said energizing control signal when said normal mode is selected.
3. The magnetic field detecting apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein:
both a signal responding to the potential level of the output signal from said magnetic field detecting unit, and another signal responding to the potential level of the signal obtained by inverting the potential level of said output signal by said first inverting unit are inputted to said energizing time period control unit; and
when the potential levels of said two signals entered to said energizing time period control unit are forcibly set to the same potential only for a predetermined time during said normal mode, said energizing time period control unit supplies a time period control signal having a potential level which is different from the potential level of said time period control signal during said normal mode to said energizing control unit, so that the operation mode of said magnetic field detecting apparatus is transferred from said normal mode to said test mode.
4. A magnetic field detecting apparatus comprising:
a magnetic field detecting unit, energized in response to a potential level of an input signal, and outputting any one of two signals having different potential levels from each other in response to a peripheral magnetic field of an S pole, and outputting any one of the two signals having the different potential levels from each other in response to a peripheral magnetic field of an N pole;
an energizing control unit, producing a periodic energizing control signal indicative of timing of which said magnetic field detecting unit is energized by employing a clock signal and another signal obtained by frequency-dividing or frequency-multiplying said clock signal, the energizing control unit supplying said produced energizing control signal to said magnetic field detecting unit; and
an energizing time period control unit, supplying a time period control signal to said energizing control unit, said time period control signal controlling the time period of said energizing control signal in response to both the potential level of the output signal of said magnetic field detecting unit, which responds to the magnetic field of the S pole, and the potential level of the signal of said magnetic field detecting unit, which responds to the magnetic field of the N pole; and wherein:
said energizing time period control unit supplies any one of two pieces of said energizing control signals whose durations and time periods are different from each other, during which said magnetic field detecting unit is not energized in response to the potential level of said time period control signal supplied from said energizing time period control unit.
5. The magnetic field detecting apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein:
as operation modes of said magnetic field detecting apparatus, a test mode when the operation of said magnetic field detecting apparatus is investigated, and a normal mode when said magnetic field detecting apparatus is operated under normal condition are prepared; and wherein:
both a non-energizing duration and a time period of said energizing control signal when said test mode is selected are shorter than those of said energizing control signal when said normal mode is selected.
6. The magnetic field detecting apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein:
both a signal responding to the potential level of the output signal from said magnetic field detecting unit, which is produced in response to the magnetic field of the S pole, and another signal responding to the potential level of the output signal from said magnetic field detecting unit, which is produced in response to the magnetic field of the N pole are inputted to the energizing time period control unit; and wherein:
when the potential levels of said two signals entered to said energizing time period control unit are forcibly set to the same potential only for a predetermined time during said normal mode, said energizing time period control unit supplies a time period control signal having a potential level which is different from the potential level of said time period control signal during said normal mode to said energizing control unit, so that the operation mode of said magnetic field detecting apparatus is transferred from said normal mode to said test mode.
7. The magnetic field detecting apparatus as claimed in claim 3, or claim 6, wherein:
said energizing control unit includes a counter for measuring a time elapsed after the operation mode of said magnetic field detecting apparatus has been transferred to said test mode; and when a predetermined time has elapsed, said energizing control unit initializes said energizing time period control unit.
8. The magnetic field detecting apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein:
said energizing time period control unit is comprised of:
a logic gate for outputting a signal having an \u201cH\u201d level when the potential levels of said two signals entered to said energizing time period control unit are set to the same potentials;
a first flip-flop having an input terminal into which the signal outputted from said logic gate is entered;
a second inverting unit for inverting a potential level of a signal outputted from said first flip-flop; and
a second flip-flop having a reset terminal, a clock terminal into which the output signal of said first flip-flop is inputted, and an input terminal into which the \u201cH\u201d-level signal is continuously inputted; and wherein:
said time period control signal is an output signal of said second flip-flop.
9. A magnetic field detecting apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein:
the production of said energizing control signal by said energizing control unit is initialized, or the initializing operation thereof is released in response to a potential level of a signal obtained by inverting the potential level of the output signal of said first flip-flop by said second inverting unit.
10. A magnetic field detecting apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein:
said logic gate is a NOR gate, or an AND gate.
11. The magnetic field detecting apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein:
said energizing time period control unit is comprised of:
a logic gate for outputting a signal having an \u201cH\u201d level when the potential levels of said two signals entered to said energizing time period control unit are set to the same potentials;
a first flip-flop having an input terminal into which the signal outputted from said logic gate is entered;
a second inverting unit for inverting a potential level of a signal outputted from said first flip-flop;
a second flip-flop having an input terminal into which the output signal of said first flip-flop is entered; and
a third flip-flop having a reset terminal, a clock terminal into which the output signal of said second flip-flop is inputted, and an input terminal into which the \u201cH\u201d-level signal is continuously inputted; and wherein:
said time period control signal is an output signal of said third flip-flop.
12. A magnetic field detecting apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein: the production of said energizing control signal by said energizing control unit is initialized, or the initializing operation thereof is released in response to a potential level of a signal obtained by inverting the potential level of the output signal of said first flip-flop by said second inverting unit.
13. A magnetic field detecting apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein: said logic gate is a NOR gate, or an AND gate.
14. An electronic appliance comprising:
the magnetic field detecting apparatus recited in claim 1 or claims 4.
15. A magnetic field detecting apparatus comprising:
a magnetic field detecting unit which is energized in response to a potential level of an input signal, and outputs any one of two signals having different potential levels from each other in response to a peripheral magnetic field;
an energizing control unit for producing a periodic energizing control signal indicative of timing of which said magnetic field detecting unit is energized by employing a clock signal and another signal obtained by frequency-dividing, or frequency-multiplying said clock signal, and for supplying said produced energizing control signal to said magnetic field detecting unit; and
a comparing unit for comparing a potential responding to a power supply voltage with a reference potential, and for outputting any one of two signals having different potential levels from each other in response to largesmall relationship between said potential and said reference potential; wherein:
said energizing time period control unit supplies any one of two pieces of said energizing control signals whose durations and time periods are different from each other, during which said magnetic field detecting unit is not energized in response to the potential level of said signal outputted from said comparing unit.
16. A magnetic field detecting apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein:
as operation modes of said magnetic field detecting apparatus, a test mode when the operation of said magnetic field detecting apparatus is investigated, and a normal mode when said magnetic field detecting apparatus is operated under normal condition are prepared; and wherein:
both a non-energizing duration and a time period of said energizing control signal when said test mode is selected are shorter than those of said energizing control signal when said normal mode is selected.
17. The magnetic field detecting apparatus as claimed in claim 16, wherein:
a power supply voltage during said test mode is higher than a power supply voltage during said normal mode; and wherein:
when a potential responding to said power supply voltage becomes higher than said reference potential, the operation mode of said magnetic field detecting apparatus is transferred from said normal mode to said test mode.