Communications: electrical – Condition responsive indicating system – Specific condition
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-27
2001-08-21
Wu, Daniel J. (Department: 2632)
Communications: electrical
Condition responsive indicating system
Specific condition
C340S572800, C340S568100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06278371
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to absorbent pads fabricated of laminated layers of absorbent tissue and, more particularly, to such pads which contain theft alarm activators therein.
Absorbent pads particularly designed for packaging with meat, poultry and fish food products are used in food markets, poultry processing plants and the like to reduce product display costs and to provide a cleaner, more attractive product. These pads are generally wrapped with the food product on the underside thereof to absorb liquids which may “bleed” from the product. In poultry products, for example, it is customary to place the poultry parts of a given package in a molded shallow tray of foamed plastic or the like. One of these absorbent pads is placed in the bottom of the tray and the poultry parts are placed thereon. The complete package is then wrapped with clear polyethylene or the like.
Packaged meat products sold in retail establishments, such as meat markets and supermarkets, may have a significant monetary value. Typically, such products will have a price of several dollars or even a dollar value in double digits. This level of value is such that shoplifting begins to become a serious problem. At the same time, it begins to be worthwhile for the marketing establishment to incur the additional expense of theft detection systems in order to prevent or deter shoplifting.
Typically, such systems work with products including an alarm activator element (a “tag”), a device for deactivating the element at the point of sale, such as a checkout counter, and a sensor at a point where people exiting the establishment must pass by. In one such system, the activator element is a small strip or wire of magnetic material which is initially magnetized as a permanent magnet. In conjunction with such a system, there is a device at the checkout counter for generating a demagnetizing field. If the activator element or “tag” is not demagnetized, it activates the theft alarm when the person carrying the product passes by the sensor.
Another theft detection system, similar in concept but using a somewhat different tag and means and method for deactivating the tag, is also known in the art. This utilizes tags (alarm activator elements) based on “acoustomagnetic” principles. The system operates at a carefully chosen narrow band of low radio frequencies, for example 58 kilohertz (kHz). The selected frequencies minimize any interference from other electronics.
In this system, the tag contains a resonator made of an amorphous magnetic material of a precise length and thickness, which is excited by low-frequency radio signals generated by a transmitter at the store's entrance/exit. The resonator vibrates at the same frequency, thus transmitting an identical signal. A receiver which is also positioned at the entrance/exit detects the resonator's signal and initiates an alarm.
One of the benefits of this acoustomagnetic detection system is that the low-frequency radio signals from the transmitter can penetrate foil shielding which might be used by a would-be shoplifter to defeat other types of detector units.
One particular theft detection system, based on acoustomagnetic principles, provides a transmitter unit mounted at a pedestal adjacent a store entrance or checkout aisle. This unit transmits 58 kilohertz low-radio-frequency pulses (referred to as “blue pulses”) at 11-millisecond intervals. A resonator positioned inside an absorbent pad of the present invention, when passing through the pedestal, begins to vibrate at 58 kilohertz, identical to the transmitted frequency, thereby sending “red pulses”. A receiver, also installed at the pedestal, is turned on during the 11-millisecond interval between the blue pulses so that it can pick up the red pulses emitted by the tag installed in the product in response to the transmission of the blue pulses. If the receiver receives a signal at least four times, it sets off an alarm.
The tag contains a magnetized strip adjacent to the resonator which insures that the oscillations of the resonator remain precisely at 58 kilohertz. A scanning device at the checkout counter can turn off the tag when the merchandise is sold by demagnetizing the strip or by altering its magnetic properties. At that point the resonator either does not vibrate (does not emit red pulses) or it resonates at the wrong frequency so that its pulses are not recognized by the receiver.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,320,895 of Lionel M. Larsonneur and Stanley E. Schilcher discloses an absorbent pad for use with meat and poultry products in retail sale packages. The disclosure of that patent is incorporated herein by reference as though set out in haec verba. It has a laminated tissue absorbent mat sandwiched between upper and lower plastic sheets. During production of the pad, aligned channels are established through the pad from top to bottom by the penetration of a series of perforating pins.
In the case of absorbent pads having theft alarm activator elements which are used with meat and poultry products, the packaging is such that the pad is usually visible, at least in major extent, at the underside of the product within its transparent wrapping. For pads such as are known in the prior art having an alarm activator element, the element is generally readily apparent to a discerning shoplifter because it is positioned along the upper exterior surface of the pad. It would be preferable for such an absorbent pad to have its theft alarm activator element out of sight within the pad, such as between the tissue layers of an absorbent pad constructed of tissue layer laminations. Other materials suitable for the laminated layers are cellulose, airlaid and composites.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In brief, particular arrangements in accordance with the present invention involve absorbent pads in which the absorbent core of the pad is constructed preferably of a plurality of tissue layers. These core pads are constructed of multiple tissue laminations and include an alarm activator element which is “cored into” the pad. This configuration is only feasible with laminated tissue pads or with composite pads of tissue laminations because of the ability of the laminated tissue construction to hold the alarm activator element in place without it migrating about in the pad. Placement of the alarm activator element within the tissue pad core in this fashion ensures that it is not apparent by inspection from outside the wrapped product. Thus, an unsuspecting shoplifter has no idea that what he is attempting to remove from the sales establishment contains. an alarm activator until the alarm sounds as he passes by the activator sensor near the exit of the establishment. In addition to theft detection, publication of the use of alarm activators is an effective theft deterrent.
In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, another particular arrangement comprises a composite of layered tissue pads with an alarm activator element positioned between a pair of such pads. This permits the inclusion of such an element within a composite absorbent pad containing individual layered pads fabricated in accordance with the teaching of the above-referenced Larsonneur-Schilcher patent. The overall composite product actually incorporates two pads fabricated in accordance with the teaching of the Larsonneur-Schilcher patent between which an individual alarm activator element is placed. A single perforated pad prepared as disclosed in that patent may be fabricated to contain an alarm activator element placed between the rows of perforations, if desired. The product preferably includes an enclosing envelope or shell of plastic or some other suitable material with one or both of the upper and lower layers perforated as may be desired for most effective absorption and retention of liquid within the composite pad. Because of the forces holding the two pads together within the external sealed envelope, migration of the internal alarm activator elements is prevented.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4510489 (1985-04-01), Anderson, III e
Bissell Henry M.
La Anh
Paper-Pak Products, Inc.
Wu Daniel J.
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