Method of reading a barcode and deactivating an electronic article surveillance tag

A method for managing the reading of a barcode and deactivation of an EAS tag relative to an EAS effective range and a depth of field (DoF) of the scanner is described. A product may comprise a barcode and a co-located EAS tag. The method uses a distance sensing system to sense how far the product is located from the scanner front window. The method only outputs the decoded data of the barcode when the product is inside an EAS effective distance. When the product is inside the EAs effective distance, the EAS tag on the product is deactivated. When a customer leaves a store with the EAS tag deactivated, a store alarm may not sound. When the product is outside of the EAS effective distance, but inside the DoF, the decoded data of the barcode is discarded.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims the benefit of Chinese Patent Application for Invention No. 201710057072.3 for A Method of Reading a Barcode and Deactivating an Electronic Article Surveillance Tag filed on Jan. 26, 2017, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to electronic article surveillance (EAS) systems, and, more particularly, to a method for reading a barcode and deactivation of an EAS tag.

BACKGROUND

Generally speaking an EAS system is a technology used to identify articles as they pass through a gated area. This identification is used to alert someone that unauthorized removal of items is being attempted.

In EAS systems, there can be the situation that the scanner DoF is longer than the EAS effective distance. In this case, the barcode can be read at the far end of the DoF, which may be a distance that is greater than the EAS effective distance. This situation means that the EAS tag that is co-located with the barcode on the product would not be deactivated since the EAS tag is out of EAS effective range. Since the EAS tag is not deactivated, an alarm would be activated when the customer passes through the security system of the store even though the customer purchased the article.

Therefore, there exists a need to manage the effective range of an EAS system relative to the depth of field (DoF) of the scanner to avoid such customer dissatisfaction situations.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, in one aspect, the present invention embraces an indicia reader with a distance sensing system. The distance sensing system may be used to sense the distance of a machine-readable indicia on the object from the indicia reader. Decoding and outputting of the machine-readable indicia may only occur if the measured distance is less than a pre-defined range. In another aspect, the indicia reader may be a scanner, the machine-readable indicia may be a barcode, and the pre-defined range may be an EAS effective range.

In an exemplary embodiment, a method for reading a barcode and deactivating an EAS tag comprises decoding data from a barcode located on a product with a scanner, wherein the barcode is positioned in front of the scanner and inside a depth of field (DoF) of the scanner; determining, with a distance sensing system, a distance between the scanner and the EAS tag, wherein, the distance sensing system is a component of the scanner. Only if the distance from the scanner to the EAS tag is less than an EAS range, the barcode decoded data is output by the scanner to a host and the scanner sends a signal to an EAS device. (The signal sent to the EAS device may be an input/output signal or a message signal, e.g., a deactivation tag signal.) The EAS device subsequently may send a deactivation signal to the EAS tag that de-activates the EAS tag. Then, the scanner sends a status message to a user via the host based on information received from the EAS device and scanner. Wherein the host and the EAS device are coupled to the scanner. The method further comprises: only if the distance from the scanner to the barcode is greater than the EAS range, discarding the barcode decoded data and providing a negative indication to the user of the host.

The distance sensing system may be based on infrared (IR) wireless technology. The status message may be an audible message and/or a visual message. An EAS system may comprise the EAS device and the scanner that may be based on radio frequency technology. An EAS system may comprise the EAS device and the scanner that may be based on acousto-magnetic technology. An EAS system may comprise the EAS device and the scanner that may be based on electromagnetic technology.

In another exemplary embodiment, a method of reading a machine-readable indicia may comprise determining, with a device, a distance between the device and an object; attempting to decode, with the device, a machine-readable indicia on the object. Only if the determined distance between the device and the object is within a pre-defined range, data representative of the machine-readable indicia is generated. The machine-readable indicia may be decoded or non-decoded machine-readable indicia. Wherein the pre-defined range is a working range of an electronic article surveillance system within the device. Wherein the machine-readable indicia may a barcode.

If the determined distance between the device and the object is not within the pre-defined range, the device provides a negative indication to a user of the device. Providing a negative indication may comprise generating a sound having a low tone. Providing a negative indication may comprise illuminating a light source.

Only if the determined distance between the device and the object is within the pre-defined range, the device provides a positive indication to a user of the device. Providing a positive indication may comprise generating a sound having a high tone. Providing a positive indication may comprise illuminating a light source.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, the method of reading a barcode a method for reading a barcode and deactivating an EAS tag may comprise decoding data of a barcode with a scanner, wherein the barcode is positioned in front of the scanner and inside a depth of field (DoF) of the scanner; determining a distance between the scanner and barcode. Only if the distance from the scanner to the barcode is within a pre-defined range, the method comprises outputting barcode decoded data to a host that is coupled to the scanner and providing a positive indication to a user associated with the host. Only if the distance from the scanner to the barcode is greater than the pre-defined range, the method comprises discarding the barcode decoded data and providing a negative indication to a user associated with the host. The negative indication may be an audible and/or visual message. The distance between the scanner and the barcode may be determined by a distance sensing system that may be based on infrared (IR) wireless technology.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention embraces a method for reading a barcode and deactivation of an EAS tag relative to an EAS effective range and a depth of field (DoF) of the scanner. A product may comprise a barcode and a co-located EAS tag. The method uses a distance sensing system to sense how far the product is located from the scanner front window. The method only outputs the decoded data of the barcode when the product is inside an EAS effective distance. When the product is inside the EAS effective distance, the EAS tag on the product is deactivated. When a customer leaves a store with the EAS tag deactivated, a store alarm may not sound. When the product is outside of the EAS effective distance, but inside the DoF of the scanner, the decoded data of the barcode is discarded. The present invention is intended to use the distance sensing system using IR or any other system that realizes the same function. Reading a barcode includes decoding a barcode and outputting the decoded barcode data. The barcode data output to the host may be decoded or non-decoded data.

As noted herein, EAS is a technology used to identify articles or products as they pass through a gated area. This identification is used to alert someone that unauthorized removal of items is being attempted. EAS systems are useful where there is an opportunity for theft of items of any size. The primary environment for an EAS system is retail stores; however, an increasing number of warehouses and distribution centers are installing the equipment.

Four types of EAS systems the retail industry include radio frequency (RF), electromagnetic (EM) acousto-magnetic (AM), and microwave (MW). Microwave (MW), was the first technology used for anti-theft systems and can be far less reliable and accurate than the other three aforementioned systems. In each technology, an EAS tag or label is attached to an article or product. The EAS tag/label is in an active state when guarding against product theft. When in the active state, a tag will sound an alarm if passed through the detection field located between EAS pedestals. When the EAS tag/label is deactivated, the alarm does not sound.

The type of EAS system dictates how wide the exit/entrance aisle may be, and the physics of a particular EAS tag and technology determines which frequency range is used to create a surveillance area.

Radio frequency (RF) systems are one of the most widely used systems. The basic idea is that the tag may have a helical antenna etched from thin aluminum bonded to a piece of paper. At the end of the antenna is a small diode or RC network that may cause the tag to emit a radio signal in response to the radio signal it receives.

In an exemplary embodiment,FIG. 1illustrates an EAS RF system100that that may provide a direct path swept transmitter signal 7.4 MHz to 8.8 MHz 112 and may operate as follows: 1) An RF EAS label (˜8 MHz Tag102), an electronic circuit and antenna is attached to a product; 2) A transmitter pedestal (Transmitter104) emits a specific frequency (Swept Transmitter Signal106); 3) The EAS label responds to the transmitted frequency (Reradiated Signal108); 4) The response from the label is then picked up by the adjacent receiver pedestal (Receiver110); 5) The response signal is then processed by the system and will trigger an alarm if it matches specific criteria.

The distance between the two gates can vary, but on average is not much more than two meters (2 m). Operating frequencies for RF systems generally range from 2 to 10 MHz. Most of the time, RF systems use a frequency sweep technique in order to deal with different label frequencies. To disarm the tag, a strong RF pulse blasts the tag and burns out the diode or RC components, thus eliminating response signals between the gates.

EAS and Bar Code Scanners. Since the mid-90's, EAS integration into bar code scanners has been a growing trend for those scanners that target the retail POS market. Some bar code scanners can integrate RF-based EAS deactivation. The reason RF may be the most common EAS platform within bar code scanners is due to its simple design. All that may be required is a single closed loop antenna system capable of carrying the RF pulse generated from the EAS deactivator. The complexity with magnetic fields associated with EM and AM technology may cause many more design problems due to shielding of electronic components and space limitations within the scanner housing.

RF EAS label is equivalent to EAS tag. In real use case, the EAS tag is a label that attached to the surface of the products to protect against burglars. The barcode is printed on the label (or somewhere else on the products).

The Depth of Field (DoF) standards is the range that the scanner able to decode the code. For example, if one can read a resolution QR code from 0 to 23 cm range in front of the window, then one can say the scanner's DoF for the QR code is 0˜23 cm.

So, if the EAS effective range is 0˜10 cm the scanner would only decode and output the code when it is placed in 0˜10 cm range. For the range of 10˜23 cm the scanner is able to decode but it won't output the result to host because the sensed distance is longer than 10 cm. As discussed herein, EAS range, EAS effective range, and EAS deactivation range are equivalent terms.

Regard “distance sensing system”, there are several methods to implement such a system. First, a distance sensing system may comprise an IR (Infrared Radiation) transmitting/receiving module. A microcontroller device of the module converts the received analog signal from the receiving module to a digital value. The software then determines the distance by this value. An alternative method for a distance sensing system is to utilize proximity sensors that are common in smart phones. Most of these sensors are based on the ToF (Time of Flight) technology which will shoot a laser light and then calculate the distance by the time interval between transmitting and receiving. A third method can utilize an ultrasonic wave instead of laser light to sense the distance.

In yet another exemplary embodiment300,FIG. 3illustrates an EAS deactivation zone. As illustrated, the EAS tag must pass through the deactivation zone area in order for deactivation to occur. The deactivation zone may be considered when determining the EAS effective range.

In yet another exemplary embodiment,FIG. 4illustrates an EAS system400comprising EAS device402, scanner406, and host407. Scanner406may be coupled to host407via cable409and scanner406may be coupled to EAS device402via cable404and cable405. Cable405may support the transfer of data messages and cable404may support the transfer of a deactivation signal from the EAS device. The deactivation signal is sent via cable404to a transmitter and EAS antenna410located in scanner406. In turn, the deactivation signal may be wirelessly transmitted to an EAS tag. EAS antenna410has a transmission distance, i.e. depth of field indicated by DoF412. Scanner406may also comprise distance sensing system408. Distance sensing system408may determine if an EAS tag is within EAS range414. Distance sensing system408comprises a separate transmitter/receiver/antenna from the EAS antenna410.

FIG. 4also illustrates EAS tag&barcode416and EAS tag&barcode418. The location of EAS tag&barcode416and EAS tag&barcode418may be determined by the distance sensing system408. Both EAS tag&barcode416and EAS tag&barcode418can be within the range of DoF412. EAS tag&barcode416is in the range of EAS range414. Therefore, EAS device402can send a deactivation signal to EAS tag&barcode416in order to deactivate the EAS tag. Also, the scanner may send the decoded barcode data to host407. EAS tag&barcode418is not within the range of EAS range414. Therefore, the EAS tag of EAS tag&barcode418may not be deactivated and the decoded barcode data may be discarded.

In yet another exemplary embodiment,FIG. 5illustrates a flowchart of a method to manage the operation of EAS system400relative to an EAS range414and a depth of field (DoF412) of a scanner and the reading of a barcode. The method comprises the following steps:

A product, including an EAS tag and Barcode, is placed in front of scanner406and inside depth of field distance, DoF412. (step502)

Scanner406decodes barcode on product and distance sensing system detects EAS tag and determines distance from scanner406to EAS tag. (step504)

Compare distance from scanner406to an EAS tag and the EAS range414. (step506)

Determine if the distance from scanner406to an EAS tag is smaller than EAS range414. (step508)

Only if the distance from scanner406to EAS tag is smaller than EAS range414, then scanner406outputs barcode decoded data to host407and sends a signal to EAS device402. (step510) Then, EAS device402receives the signal from scanner406& sends a deactivation signal via EAS antenna410to deactivate an EAS tag. At the same time, scanner406may decide when to send status message to user. (step512). Subsequently, scanner406sends status message to user. (step514)

A signal from scanner406to host407may be sent via cable409. A signal from scanner to EAS device402may be sent via cable405. EAS device402may send a deactivation signal to EAS antenna410via cable404.

Only if the distance from scanner406to EAS tag is greater than EAS range414, then the scanner406discards the decoded barcode data. (step508)