Patent ID: 8570171

Claim:
A system for detecting unauthorized shopping cart exits from a store, the system comprising: a plurality of shopping cart wheel units, each shopping cart wheel unit attached to a respective shopping cart, each shopping cart wheel unit including a wireless communication system and a controller; a plurality of signal emitters, each signal emitter corresponding to a respective one of a plurality of checkout areas of the store, each signal emitter positioned relative to the respective checkout area to enable the shopping cart wheel units to detect entry of the respective shopping carts into the checkout area; and a monitoring system that communicates bi-directionally with the shopping cart wheel units; wherein the shopping cart wheel units are configured use signals emitted by the signal emitters to detect entry of the corresponding shopping carts into the checkout areas, and wherein each shopping cart wheel unit is configured to transmit, to the monitoring system, information reflective of whether the shopping cart wheel unit has detected entry into a checkout lane area, the shopping cart wheel units thereby enabling the monitoring system to assess whether particular shopping carts are authorized to exit the store.