Patent ID: 8319624

Claim:
Premises which are secured by a security system for distinguishing between authorized and attempted unauthorized removal of a secured article having a passive security device which secures the article against attempted unauthorized removal from the premises by being in an article-securing state rendering the passive security device wirelessly detectable when the secured article enters an approach to an exit from the premises and which comprise: a) a detector, comprising a detection transmitter and a receiver, for wirelessly detecting attempted unauthorized removal of a secured article from the premises; b) a check-out lane comprising a scanner for identifying a secured article by reading a readable identifying code for a secured article and a register for registering authorized removal of the secured article from the premises by registering the secured article's sale price; and c) an unsecuring transmitter controlled by the register for wirelessly transmitting to a passive security device on a secured article upon authorized removal of the secured article having been registered in the register, an unsecuring signal which unsecures the secured article by changing the passive security device from the article-securing state to a non-securing state which renders the passive security device wirelessly undetectable by the detector when the article enters the approach to the exit, and d) a medium associated with the register having a protocol unknown to a user of the check-out lane for setting a limit on the total currency sales volume of secured articles whose passive security devices are allowed to be unsecured by keeping a running total of sale prices of secured articles whose sale prices have been registered in the register, and when the running total comes within some range of the limit, preventing the unsecuring transmitter from transmitting an unsecuring signal.