CN115210787A - Electronic article monitoring device - Google Patents

Abstract

An improved disposable electronic article surveillance holder ("holder") is disclosed that is free of locking or unlocking mechanisms and is reduced in size. The holder may comprise a rigid shell substantially corresponding to the shape of the product and adapted to cover at least one side of the product but not completely surround the product; a security element attached to the housing and adapted to be inaccessible to a consumer when the holder is attached to the product; and a flexible adhesive support attached to the housing and adapted to wrap the product.

Description

Electronic article monitoring device

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority from U.S. provisional application entitled "Electronic Article Surveillance Labels" filed on 23/1/2020 and having serial No.62/964,736, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to electronic article surveillance equipment. More particularly, the present invention relates to electronic article monitors having means for attachment to high value hard goods (hard goods), such as, but not limited to, battery packs, USB memory cards, razor cartridges, medicine boxes, perfumes, health products, wine, alcohol, DIY (do it yourself) accessories, and the like ("hard goods").

Background

Electronic article holders ("Keepers") are well known in the art, including that disclosed in us patent 6,676,175, which is incorporated herein by reference. Retailers have applied millions of holders to hard goods since the appearance of holders in the 1980 s to prevent shoplifting. Holders originally appeared to protect very valuable hard items such as CDs and videotapes where conventional EAS (electronic article surveillance) adhesive tags were no longer effective because shoplifters could easily identify and remove such tags. The retainer has proven to be a very effective method of combating shoplifting of high value hard goods, but there are many challenges and disadvantages that persist, such as, but not limited to:

1. holders are typically made of clear polycarbonate which is completely clear when they are new, but which can slowly become scratched when a clerk removes them at the point of sale, stacks them up and recycles them for reuse. Gradually, these scratches, including those formed by the friction of one blister pack against another, become so severe as to alter the visibility of the hard goods inside the holder and their inscriptions (e.g., bar codes or important product information for pharmaceuticals), thereby slowing the sign-out process and affecting revenue.

2. The holders tend to accumulate dirt and dust as they can be used by retailers for more than five years, making the visibility of the protected product even worse.

3. Holders are much larger in overall volume and size than the hard goods they protect because they enclose the hard goods they protect and require means of locking and unlocking, which requires additional volume. This additional volume, which is typically 20% to 35% of the hard goods without the security holder, would proportionately reduce the number of products to be displayed, thereby affecting the sales revenue for the retailer, as less products (20% to 35%) are displayed within the field of view of potential customers in the self-service environment.

4. Some manufacturers of products (e.g., batteries or razor blades) purchase these holders with their names and then deliver them to specific retailers to help resist shrinkage and avoid the retailers from locking their hard goods behind the counter, which in turn can curtail sales revenue. These retailers use, for example: holders purchased by manufacturer a for other products such as batteries of other brands of cosmetics because they are large enough to accommodate a variety of high-theft items. This presents a double problem for manufacturer a: its hard goods will not be properly protected because of the absence of the holder, which causes loss due to increased shoplifting; while creating a financial burden because the holders purchased by manufacturer a are used for other products and brands.

5. Some popular holders are designed for holding hard goods, such as cardboard-backed battery and razor blade packs, which do not wrap the entire product package, but rather leave the upper flap of the package outside the holder, with the peg holes located at the upper flap of the package and used to hang the package on a self-service display system. The package is not designed to add extra weight from the holder so the package is easily broken off and dropped from the display area. In addition, these nail holes are not held by the retainer, making it easy for shoplifters to remove the package from the self-service display system.

6. With the advent of self-checkout in retail environments, particularly in supermarkets and large stores, holders are annoying because customers cannot remove them and require the assistance of store clerks, which is quite the opposite of the nature of self-checkout where customers intend to checkout products without store assistance.

7. Holders are labor intensive security devices for retailers as they need to be removed at the checkout counter, sorted by type, returned to the store back, sorted by model, and reused to package and protect new hard goods.

8. In the event that a shoplifter is successful in stealing the hard merchandise from the holder, he can purchase a special separator device on-line and remove the product from the holder without causing any damage thereto, and thus easily be sold on the black market.

In summary: the holder is a good solution to combat theft, but has a number of drawbacks that affect the shopper's purchasing experience and hassle to the retailer.

As indicated above, current holders for hard goods and other items have various disadvantages. An improved retainer is highly desirable. The present invention addresses these and other shortcomings of these known holders.

Disclosure of Invention

To address the above-mentioned challenges of existing holders, the present invention is directed to an improved holder made from a rigid and generally transparent holder housing with transparent adhesive means that can be used in conjunction with known deactivatable EAS tags, including radio frequency and acousto-magnetic tags, such as the reprogrammable RFID Tag inlays manufactured or sold by All-Tag corporation and pioneering america (a branch of Johnson Controls, usa), and by Avery Denison, usa.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved EAS retainer ("keeper"). The "holder" of the present invention is intended to include:

1. the housing, which is made of a rigid material such as, but not limited to, polycarbonate plastic, non-transparent ABS plastic, or environmentally friendly biodegradable material, does not completely enclose the product or product package (collectively "product") as does a conventional holder. The retainer is typically designed to be positioned on the front of the product, above the location on the package where the hard goods are visible or accessible, and to wrap around the peg-hole hooks of the package when applicable. The retainer structure may also be located on the back of the product, but not completely encasing it.

2. A flexible and generally transparent support permanently affixed to the holder with a strong glue is used to wrap around the product and holder housing to securely affix the holder structure to the product, preventing shoplifters from manually removing it or accessing the area where the hard goods are located. The flexible support may have release paper for ease of application and pre-printed instructions and/or warning messages, and/or printed/opaque areas to cover selective areas of the product.

3. At least one RF and/or AM EAS tag and/or RFID inlay is secured to the holder housing and/or the flexible support.

It is another principal object of the present invention to provide an improved holder for high value hard goods.

It is another principal object of the present invention to provide an improved holder that does not include a locking mechanism and therefore does not require removal of the holder at the point of sale. At checkout, the deactivatable EAS tag or the reprogrammable RFID inlay will be deactivated or closed to allow the paying customer to exit the store without triggering an EAS security gate. This functionality would save a significant amount of time and money for the retailer and allow the customer to use self-checkout payment without the need for sales personnel to assist in unlocking or removing the holder, thereby speeding the checkout flow. The paying customer will then remove the improved holder at home using, for example, a pair of scissors.

Another main object of the present invention is to provide an improved holder and its additional flexible transparent support that when removed to extract the product therein, destroys the packaging of the product, thereby avoiding shoplifters from selling on the black market. This feature will deter shoplifting.

It is another principal object of the present invention to provide an improved holder which adds minimal additional volume when secured to a hard good or its packaging. The holder of the present invention does not affect the number of products displayed in a self-service environment compared to conventional holders that increase the volume by 15% to 30%. This function will increase sales as compared to conventional holders, since more hard goods will be exposed.

Another principal object of the present invention is to provide an improved holder which, in addition to the above-mentioned improvements, also provides physical reinforcement to the peg holes of the cardboard packaging to prevent shoplifters from pulling the holder with the cardboard packaging out of the store display area by tearing it off (breaking the cardboard peg holes). This reinforcement is most effective In secure store displays, such as the T100 or Helix devices from In-View Systems, charlotte, N.C., to prevent a thief from removing multiple items of merchandise from the display system at the same time. This function will help reduce theft.

One variation of the present invention is to provide an improved holder that perfectly matches the geometry/shape of a particular portion of a particular hard good package, thereby reducing the likelihood that it will be used with other hard goods that are not the subject of design. For example: an improved retainer may be made to match the geometry/form of brand a AA battery, but not brand B AA battery, because, for example, the peg holes of brand B AA battery will be obscured by the retainer made for brand a.

One variant of the invention is to provide an improved holder that matches the geometry/form of a specific hard good a and comprises on its transparent flexible support a very specific opaque printed area that will mask very specific information of a very similar hard good B, making it difficult or impossible to sell the hard good B in a holder for hard goods a. For example: the improved holder may match the geometry/form of brand a AA battery pack, while the opaque printed area would not obscure important information when wrapping it, but would partially or fully obscure the bar code or other critical information when used on a very similar brand B AA battery pack, making it very difficult or impossible to sell because the bar code would not be read by a bar code reader at the check-out point and/or important legal information would be obscured.

The present invention relates to an improved holder comprising a rigid shell substantially corresponding to the shape of a product and adapted to cover at least one side of the product but not completely surround the product; a security element attached to the housing and adapted to be inaccessible to a consumer when the holder is attached to the product; and a flexible adhesive support attached to the housing and adapted to wrap the product.

The invention also relates to a holder comprising a rigid shell substantially corresponding to the shape of the product and adapted to cover at least one side of the product but not completely surround the product; a security element attached to the housing and adapted to be inaccessible to a consumer when the holder is attached to the product; and a double-sided adhesive extending around a perimeter of the housing, one side of the double-sided adhesive being attached to the housing and a second side of the double-sided adhesive being adapted to be attached to a product to secure the holder to the product.

These and other objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments of the invention and the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

The following detailed description of certain non-limiting embodiments of the present invention can be best understood when read in conjunction with the following drawings, where like structure is indicated with like reference numerals.

With reference to the accompanying drawings:

fig. 1 is a perspective view of an improved AM tagged holder of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a rear view of the improved holder of fig. 1 having a flexible adhesive support with pre-cut holes attached to arrowhead shaped barbs and an AM label.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged side view of the top of the retainer of fig. 1.

Fig. 4A is a partial view of the sidewall of the holder showing the arrowhead shaped barbs and the connection to the flexible adhesive support with perforations.

Figure 4B is an enlarged side view of the arrowhead shaped barb.

Fig. 5A-5D are views of a holder with an AM label affixed to a product and illustrating the steps of attaching the holder to the product.

Fig. 6A and 6B show a comparison of the same products displayed using the improved holder of fig. 6A, wherein the X and Y of the four products are less than the X 'and Y' of fig. 6B using the prior art holder, because the improved holder requires less space on the retail display.

Fig. 7A to 7D show an improved holder for affixing to two similar products from two different brands, wherein the improved holder has a predefined covering print intended to selectively cover information to ensure that a particular improved holder with a particular predefined covering area is only available for a particular product of a particular brand.

Fig. 8A-8D show a comparison of the use of the retainer, where fig. 8A and 8B show the improved retainer installed on brand a to protect the nail holes from being broken, and fig. 8C and 8D show the same brand a product without the improved retainer, allowing the nail holes to be broken by a thief.

Fig. 9A-9C show another attachment of the improved holder, in which the flexible adhesive support is replaced by a double-sided adhesive label to protect the product on one side only.

Fig. 10A-10D show an alternative method of attaching the improved holder to a product, in which a roll of standard scotch tape is used instead of a flexible adhesive support.

Fig. 11A-11B illustrate two improved holders on a product, one on top and one on bottom. Referring to fig. 11A, the top retainer has peg holes for products with peg holes. Fig. 11B is similar to fig. 11A, but the two retainers are identical, the top retainer having no peg holes.

Detailed Description

Referring to fig. 1-4, an improved retainer 10 is shown, the retainer 10 including a rigid outer shell 12, a flexible adhesive support 14, the flexible adhesive support 14 secured to the outer shell 12 by pre-cut perforations on the flexible support 14 and arrowhead-shaped barbs on the outer shell 12, as described below. The housing 12 includes a security device 16.

The housing 12 includes a frame 20, which frame 20 may have different shapes to conform to the hard goods to which the holder 10 is to be attached. The frame 20 shown in fig. 1-4 is rectangular in shape as this is a common shape for hard goods. The frame 20 includes a top wall 22, a bottom wall 24, and side walls 26, 28. Extending from the top wall 22 is an upwardly extending support 30. The support member 30 includes a bend 31 which allows the support member to be placed through the peg hole of the hard goods as shown in figures 5 and 6. The support 30 includes an opening 33 that corresponds to a peg hole of a rigid merchandise package for hanging the rigid merchandise on a display shelf of a store.

Referring to fig. 4A and 4B, the side walls 26 of the frame 20 may include arrowhead shaped barbs 34, the arrowhead shaped barbs 34 being used to attach the flexible adhesive support 14, as described below. Referring to fig. 2, the side wall 28 is adapted to receive the security element 16, and the security element 16 may be adhered to the side wall 28 by any suitable means (e.g., adhesive). The consumer cannot access the security element 16, so it cannot be removed and preferably cannot be seen. The housing 12 may include one or more apertures a in the wall to provide a lighter weight retainer and require less material in manufacturing the retainer, thereby saving manufacturing costs.

The frame 20 also includes an open window 36 such as shown in fig. 1 and 2. This represents an area of the rigid shell 12 free of material that matches the geometry and location of the hard goods. The holder 10 thus reduces the total amount of material required and results in a lighter and cheaper anti-theft solution. The holder 10 is mounted in position to surround the product 80.

Rigid housing 12 may be made of a transparent material (such as, but not limited to, polycarbonate plastic), an opaque ABS plastic, or an environmentally friendly biodegradable material. While the preferred embodiment wherein the housing 12 is transparent, translucent or opaque housings may also be used, including housings that use the commercial appearance of hard goods to be secured.

The flexible adhesive support 14 includes clear adhesive tape 40 with super glue and a release paper backing 42. The scotch adhesive tape 40 is used to wrap the product package and holder 10 to hold all items together with the strong glue of the tape 40. The support 14 also includes a plurality of perforations 44 for mating with the arrow barbs 34 and attaching the support 14 to the housing 12.

The flexible support 14 may be made of a transparent plastic material such as, but not limited to, polypropylene or an environmentally friendly biodegradable material. The presently preferred strong glue on tape 40 is a UPM permanent adhesive that, if removed by a thief, will break the print on the back of the product packaging, making the product difficult to resale.

The security element 16 may comprise an EAS tag; an antenna; or one or a combination of security devices or electronic tags (e.g., RFID elements/antennas) for, but not limited to, one or more traceability, marketing, pricing, or inventory purposes.

Referring to fig. 1 and 2, a presently preferred shape and size of the improved retainer 10 is disclosed. However, it is understood that other shapes and sizes may be used without departing from the scope of the invention. In particular, the improved holder 10 of the present invention preferably corresponds to the shape of a fixed hard good, including but not limited to rectangular, square, oval, and the like.

Fig. 5A-5D show a battery pack 80 secured with a modified holder 10, the holder 10 having an acousto-magnetic label 16 with a transparent flexible adhesive tape 40 wrapped around pairs of cells 80. After the product 80 has been wound, the battery can no longer be accessed without forcibly opening the package. If forcibly removed, the strong permanent adhesive on the scotch tape 40 will damage the printed material 82 on the battery pack 80. Referring to fig. 5A, the holder 10 is shown attached to a battery pack 80. The support 30 is disposed through the nail hole of the battery 80. The flexible adhesive support 14 is pulled out and away from the housing 12. Referring to fig. 5B, the support 30 is visible through the nail holes of the battery 80, and its top is adjacent to the top of the battery 80. The release layer 42 is pulled away from the flexible adhesive support 14 at the back, exposing the tape 40 with the strong permanent adhesive. Referring to fig. 5C, the transparent adhesive tape 40 is wound on the rear surface of the battery pack 80, and all product information can be read and is not covered. Referring to fig. 5D, the scotch tape 40 is now fully wrapped around the battery pack and covers the open area 36 of the housing 12, and the holder is fully attached to the battery pack 80, and the holder and battery pack 80 comprise one integral product. Thereafter, the customer may purchase the battery pack 80 with a barcode at the cashier, which the cashier may see to scan the product, as shown in fig. 5B and 5C. Similarly, at checkout, the cashier may deactivate the AM security element 16 and the customer takes the product home. The customer may thereafter remove or cut the scotch tape 40.

Fig. 6A and 6B show a comparison of the holder 10 in fig. 6A with the prior art holder K in fig. 6B. Fig. 6A shows a series of improved holders 10 protecting a series of identical battery packs 80 suspended from a retail display fixture F. Fig. 6B shows a display fixture F and the same battery pack 80 in a prior art holder K. Lines X and Y in fig. 6A are always smaller than the X 'and Y' lines in fig. 6B for the same number of products because the new and improved holder 10 requires less space on the retail display fixture F. For the same number of battery packs 80, typically, X using the improved retainer will be 15% to 30% smaller than X 'using the prior art retainer, while Y will be 5% to 15% smaller than Y'.

Fig. 7A-7D show an improved holder 10 secured to brand a and brand B products 80', 80 wherein the scotch adhesive tape 40 of the support 14 has one or more predetermined cover portions 70. Referring to fig. 7A and 7B, cover portion 70 does not cover any critical information 84 of portions of brand a product 80. Fig. 7C and 7D show the same support 14 scotch tape 40 on the same modified holder 10 and brand B product 80', similar to brand a, where the same scotch tape 40 of support 14 has the same predetermined masking print 70 that masks the key information 84' of product 80 'so brand B product 80' cannot be sold with holder 10 designed for brand a because the key information (e.g., bar code) is masked and cannot be scanned.

Fig. 8A and 8B show a modified holder 10, the upper portion 30 of the housing 12 perfectly matching/matching the area of the package nail holes of the product 80 to meet two criteria: (1) The upper portion 30 of the housing 12 matches the peg holes of the brand a' package; and (2) the upper portion 30 reinforces the peg holes, typically made of cardboard, to prevent shoplifters from pulling/tearing one or more products from the retail display fixture by breaking the cardboard peg holes in the product 80', as shown in fig. 8C and 8D.

Fig. 9A-9C illustrate an alternative attachment for another embodiment of the improved holder 100, in which the flexible adhesive support 14 is replaced with a double-sided adhesive tape 140 having a release paper 142. Glue 140 is located on the periphery of the modified holder 100 to attach it to the product 80, protecting only one side of the product 80. Fig. 9C shows this alternative embodiment 100 with the release paper 142 completely removed and in the process of being glued to the product package 80. The rest of the holder 100 is substantially the same as the holder 10.

Fig. 10A-10D show an alternative holder 210 that is substantially similar to holder 10 except that it does not include a flexible adhesive support 14. As shown in fig. 10A-10D, the holder 210 is attached to the product 80 using a roll of standard scotch tape 160. Referring to fig. 10A, packaging for battery 80 is shown. Referring to fig. 10B, there is shown a holder 210 having a support 30 disposed through the peg hole of the battery 80. Referring to fig. 10C and 10D, a transparent adhesive tape 240 is wound around the front and then the rear of the battery pack 80. All product information can be read and not covered. Referring to fig. 10D, the scotch tape 240 is now fully wrapped around the battery pack and excess scotch tape 240 is cut off using scissors or similar tools. Thereafter, the customer may purchase the battery pack 80 with a bar code at a checkout counter, as shown in FIG. 10D, which the cashier may view to scan the product. Similarly, at checkout, the cashier may deactivate the AM security element 16 and the customer takes the product home. The customer may thereafter remove or cut the scotch tape 142.

Fig. 11A and 11B illustrate the use of two holders 310 and 410 on the top and bottom of a hard good 180, and a transparent adhesive member 190 wrapped around the hard good to hold the holders 310 and 410 in place. Fig. 11A shows the retainer 310 having peg holes for securing hard goods. Fig. 11B shows retainer 310 without a tack hole.

The exemplary embodiments disclosed herein are not intended to be exhaustive or to unnecessarily limit the scope of the invention. The exemplary embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the invention so that others skilled in the art may practice the invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made within the scope of the above description. Such modifications, which are within the purview of one skilled in the art, form part of the invention and are included in the appended claims.

Claims (25)

1. An electronic article surveillance ("EAS") holder comprising a rigid housing substantially corresponding to the shape of a product and adapted to cover at least one side of the product, but not completely surround the product; a security element attached to the housing and adapted to be inaccessible to a consumer when the holder is attached to the product; and a flexible adhesive support attached to the outer shell and adapted to wrap the product.

2. The EAS holder of claim 1, wherein the flexible adhesive support comprises a scotch tape with a permanent adhesive and a release backing material.

3. The EAS retainer of claim 1, wherein housing further comprises a plurality of arrowhead barbs for attaching the flexible adhesive support to housing, and the flexible adhesive support comprises a plurality of perforations for engaging the plurality of arrowhead barbs.

4. The EAS holder of claim 3, wherein the flexible adhesive support comprises a scotch tape with a permanent adhesive and a release backing material.

5. The EAS retainer of claim 1, wherein the housing comprises a top wall, a bottom wall, a first side wall and a second side wall forming an open frame, the housing adapted to fit around a perimeter of a product.

6. The EAS retainer of claim 1, wherein the housing further comprises an upwardly extending support having a peg aperture.

7. The EAS holder of claim 6, wherein the housing includes a top wall, a bottom wall, a first side wall, and a second side wall forming an open frame.

8. The EAS holder of claim 6, wherein the upwardly extending support member is adapted to pass through the peg holes in the products and prevent the peg holes of the products from tearing.

9. The EAS holder of claim 7, wherein at least one of the walls of the holder includes one or more apertures.

10. The EAS holder of claim 1, wherein the EAS holder is shaped selected from the group consisting of rectangular, square, and oval.

11. The EAS holder of claim 1, wherein the security element is selected from the group consisting of an EAS tag, an antenna, an RFID element and antenna, and a combination of an EAS tag and an RFID element.

12. The EAS holder of claim 1, wherein the flexible adhesive support comprises a scotch tape having an opaque portion adapted to cover an informational portion of an article not suitable for use with the EAS holder.

13. An electronic article surveillance ("EAS") holder comprising a rigid housing substantially corresponding to the shape of a product and adapted to cover at least one side of the product, but not completely surround the product; a security element attached to the housing and adapted to be inaccessible to a consumer when the holder is attached to the product; and a double-sided adhesive extending around a perimeter of the housing, one side of the double-sided adhesive being attached to the housing and a second side of the double-sided adhesive being adapted to be attached to a product to secure the holder to the product.

14. The EAS holder of claim 13, wherein the housing comprises a top wall, a bottom wall, a first side wall, and a second side wall forming an open frame, the housing adapted to fit around a perimeter of the product.

15. The EAS retainer of claim 14, wherein the housing further comprises an upwardly extending support having a peg bore.

16. The EAS holder of claim 15, wherein the upwardly extending support is adapted to pass through peg holes in the products and prevent the peg holes of the products from tearing.

17. The EAS holder of claim 16, wherein at least one of the walls of the holder comprises one or more holes.

18. The EAS holder of claim 13, wherein the EAS holder is shaped selected from the group consisting of rectangular, square, and oval.

19. The EAS holder according to claim 13, wherein the security element is selected from the group consisting of an EAS tag, an antenna, an RFID element and antenna, and a combination of an EAS tag and an RFID element.

20. The EAS retainer of claim 1, wherein the retainer is disposable.

21. The EAS holder of claim 13, wherein the holder is disposable.

22. The EAS holder of claim 1, wherein the holder does not include a locking or unlocking mechanism.

23. The EAS retainer of claim 13, wherein the retainer does not include a locking or unlocking mechanism.

24. The EAS holder of claim 20, wherein the holder does not include a locking or unlocking mechanism.

25. The EAS holder of claim 21, wherein the holder does not include a locking or unlocking mechanism.

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