Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US6353388?dq=6480844
Timestamp: 2017-10-19 11:03:23
Document Index: 626227274

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 22', 'art 22', 'art 22', 'art 22', 'art 22', 'art 22', 'art 22', 'art 22', 'arts 22', 'art 22', 'art 22', 'art 22', 'art 22', 'art 22']

Patent US6353388 - Anti-theft vehicle system - Google Patents
An anti-theft vehicle system for a vehicle wheel having a rotational axis includes at least one inhibitor disposed within the vehicle wheel to selectively engage and disengage the vehicle wheel to resist and allow rotational movement of the vehicle wheel about its rotational axis. The anti-theft vehicle...http://www.google.com/patents/US6353388?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US6353388 - Anti-theft vehicle system
Publication number US6353388 B1
Application number US 09/488,060
Also published as CA2248221A1, CA2248221C, DE69737497D1, DE69737497T2, EP0895629A1, EP0895629A4, EP0895629B1, US5831530, US6127927, WO1997040478A1
Publication number 09488060, 488060, US 6353388 B1, US 6353388B1, US-B1-6353388, US6353388 B1, US6353388B1
Inventors Jack Durban, Jeffrey J. Lace
Patent Citations (49), Referenced by (27), Classifications (11), Legal Events (4)
US 6353388 B1
1. An anti-theft vehicle system for a vehicle comprising:
at least one inhibitor operatively associated with the vehicle to resist and allow movement of the vehicle;
a receiving circuit operatively associated with the vehicle to receive a predetermined square wave signal having a frequency of less than nine kilohertz to activate and move said at least one inhibitor; and
at least one transmitter for transmitting the predetermined signal to define a predetermined spatial perimeter.
2. An anti-theft vehicle system as set forth in claim 1 including a structure operatively associated with the vehicle and cooperating with said at least one inhibitor for moving said at least one inhibitor between an engaged position and a disengaged position.
3. An anti-theft vehicle system as set forth in claim 2 wherein said structure is rotatable.
4. An anti-theft vehicle system as set forth in claim 1 including a remotely transportable transmitter for transmitting the predetermined signal.
5. An anti-theft vehicle system for a vehicle comprising:
a structure operatively associated with said at least one vehicle wheel for moving between an engaged position and a disengaged position with respect to said at least one vehicle wheel to resist and allow rotational movement of said at least one vehicle wheel;
a receiving circuit operatively associated with said at least one vehicle wheel to receive a predetermined signal having a frequency of less than nine kilohertz to activate and move said structure between said engaged position and said disengaged position; and
a remotely transportable transmitter for transmitting the predetermined signal.
6. An anti-theft vehicle system as set forth in claim 5 wherein said remotely transportable transmitter is hand-held.
7. An anti-theft vehicle system as set forth in claim 5 including at least one signal generator to generate the predetermined signal to define a predetermined spatial perimeter.
8. An anti-theft system for a shopping cart comprising:
at least one inhibitor operatively associated with said at least one vehicle wheel to engage and disengage said at least one vehicle wheel to resist and allow rotational movement of said at least one vehicle wheel;
a structure operatively associated with said at least one vehicle wheel and cooperating with said at least one inhibitor for moving said at least one inhibitor between an engaged position and a disengaged position with respect to said at least one vehicle wheel;
a receiving circuit operatively associated with said at least one vehicle wheel to receive a predetermined signal to activate said structure to move said at least one inhibitor between said engaged position and said disengaged position; and
a remotely transportable transmitter for transmitting the predetermined signal having a frequency of less than nine kilohertz.
9. An anti-theft vehicle system as set forth in claim 8 wherein said remotely transportable transmitter is hand-held.
10. An anti-theft system for a shopping cart comprising:
at least one inhibitor operatively associated with the shopping cart to resist and allow movement of the shopping cart;
a receiving circuit operatively associated with the shopping cart to receive a predetermined square wave signal having a frequency of less than nine kilohertz to activate said at least one inhibitor; and
at least one transmitter to generate said predetermined signal to define a predetermined spatial perimeter.
11. An anti-theft system as set forth in claim 10 wherein said at least one transmitter comprises a signal generator and a buried wire cable.
12. An anti-theft system as set forth in claim 10 wherein said at least one transmitter includes an address set switch to identify said at least one transmitter.
13. An anti-theft system as set forth in claim 10 including a remotely transportable transmitter for transmitting said predetermined signal.
14. An anti-theft system as set forth in claim 13 wherein said remotely transportable transmitter is hand-held.
15. An anti-theft system for a shopping cart comprising:
a receiver operatively associated with the shopping cart to receive a predetermined signal having a frequency of less than nine kilohertz to activate said at least one inhibitor; and
a hand-held transmitter for transmitting said predetermined signal.
16. An anti-theft vehicle system for a vehicle comprising:
a receiving circuit operatively associated with the vehicle to receive a predetermined signal having a frequency of less than nine kilohertz to activate and move said at least one inhibitor; and
17. An anti-theft vehicle system as set forth in claim 16 wherein said remotely transportable transmitter is hand-held.
18. An anti-theft vehicle system as set forth in claim 16 including a structure operatively associated with the vehicle and cooperating with said at least one inhibitor for moving said at least one inhibitor between an engaged position and a disengaged position.
This application is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 09/139,180, filed Aug. 24, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,127,927, which is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 08/637,241, filed Apr. 24, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,831,530, which is a Continuation-In-Part of application U.S. Ser. No. 08/366,886, filed Dec. 30, 1994, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,598,144.
The system 10 includes an axle arm 38 securely mounted such as by welding about the axle 34. The axle arm 34 is a plate made of a metal material such as steel. The extension 27 b is connected to the axle arm 38 by suitable means such as an adhesive. The system 10 also includes a motor 40 such as an electric motor mounted to the extension 27 b of the inhibitors 24, 26 between the rotational axis A and the inner diameter 14. The motor 40 provides rotational movement independent of the movement of the wheel 12 along an axis defined by a motor shaft 42. The motor 40 receives power from a power source such as a battery 43 which is electrically connected to both the motor 40 and a wheel controller 72 to be described. It should be appreciated that the battery 43 is attached to the extension 27 b of the inhibitors 24, 26 by suitable means.
For example, the shopping cart 22 passes over the buried wire cable 76 to signify that the shopping cart 22 has passed either into or out of the predetermined spatial perimeter 119 defined by the buried wire cable 76. The flip flop retrieval deactivation circuit 82 receives the predetermined perimeter signal from the tuned receiver 78 stating the location of the shopping cart 22 has changed. The flip flop retrieval deactivation circuit 82 then determines whether the shopping cart 22 was inside or outside the buried wire cable 76 by determining whether the wheel 12 was rotating. From the rotation sensor 88, determination of the rotation of the wheel 12 will determine whether the shopping cart 22 was inside or outside of the buried wire cable 76. If the rotation sensor 88 produces no signal, the wheel 12 is not rotating and is already locked. Therefore, receiving a signal from the tuned receiver 78 will indicate that the shopping cart 22 has passed back over the predetermined spatial perimeter 11 a and into the allowed area for the shopping cart 22 to operate. The rotational state of the wheel 12 goes from a non-rotating state to a rotating state. If, however, the flip flop retrieval deactivation circuit 82 receives a signal from the tuned receiver 78 when the rotation sensor 88 is sending a signal indicating that the wheel 12 is rotating, it will be determined that the shopping cart 22 has moved to a location outside of the predetermined spatial perimeter defined by the buried wire cable 76. As a result, the motor 40 will be activated such that the inhibitors 24, 26 will abut the wheel hub 18 preventing the wheel 12 from rotating. Thus, the rotational state of the wheel 12 has gone from a rotating state to a non-rotating state.
Referring to FIG. 9, another embodiment of the transmitting circuit 114 is shown. Like primed numerals represent similar elements to that of the transmitting circuit 114 shown in FIG. 7. The transmitting circuit 114′ includes a remotely transportable or hand-held transmitter 132′ for transmitting the predetermined perimeter signal having the same carrier frequency discussed above. The transmitting circuit 114′ is used on individual shopping carts 22 to either lock or unlock the inhibitor 24 with the wheel 12 depending on the location of the shopping cart 22. By way of example, if the shopping cart 22 is located out beyond the predetermined spatial perimeter 11 a, the anti-theft vehicle system 10 will have locked the wheel 12 preventing the rotation thereof. The remotely transportable transmitter 132′ can be transported to the shopping cart 22 to unlock the wheel 12 so that the shopping cart 22 may be pushed back within the predetermined spatial perimeter 11 a.
The control circuit 122 includes a resonant tank circuit 138 which eliminates reception by the control circuit 122 of all frequencies other than the frequency of the predetermined perimeter signal 116. The resonant tank circuit 138 is tuned to the specific harmonic, fundamental or otherwise, transmitted by the transmitting circuit 114. The resonant tank circuit 138 allows for the detection of the predetermined perimeter signal 116 without having to provide any radio frequency (RF) gain. The resonant tank circuit 138 includes a capacitor and an inductor (neither shown) connected in parallel. It should be appreciated other elements may be used to favor the predetermined perimeter space frequencies to be received. It should also be appreciated that the shopping cart 22 is used as an antenna to receive the predetermined perimeter signal transmitted by the transmitting circuit 114,114′ and prevent electromagnetically isolating the wheel 12 to bypass the anti-theft vehicle system 10.
The control circuit 122 also includes a gain stage circuit 140 electrically connected to the resonant tank circuit 138 and amplifies the predetermined perimeter signal 116 after the predetermined perimeter signal 116 has been received by the resonant tank circuit 138. The gain stage circuit 140 may be a simplified circuit because it is only receiving one harmonic of an oscillating signal due to the tuning of the resonant tank circuit 138. The gain stage circuit 140 amplifies the predetermined perimeter signal 116 by a predetermined amount such of nineteen decibels (19 db). The gain stage circuit 140 is configured as a linear mode amplifier that draws a predetermined current such as five microamps (5.0 μA).
The control circuit 122 includes a latch 157 to reset the decoder 148 to prevent redundant lock and unlock actuations. The latch 157 receives a signal from the decoder 148. The latch 157 is a flip flop which will allow a lock signal to pass to a lock drive timer 150 only if the immediately preceding signal was not a lock signal. This prevents redundant lock signals unnecessarily reducing the battery potential. Likewise, the latch 157 will prevent an unlock signal from passing to an unlock drive 156 if it was immediately preceded by an unlock signal. The latch 157 prevents signals resulting from the resonant tank circuit 138 being physically close to the antenna 76. The latch 157 includes three CMOS transistors (none shown).
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U.S. Classification 340/568.5, 280/33.994, 188/111
International Classification G08B13/14, B60B33/00, B62B5/04, B60R25/00
Cooperative Classification B62B5/0423, B60R25/09
Owner name: GATEKEEPER SYSTEMS, INC., CALIFORNIA
Free format text: MERGER;ASSIGNOR:GATEKEEPER SYSTEMS, LLC;REEL/FRAME:020309/0178