WO2001052214A1

WO2001052214A1 - Security system

Info

Publication number: WO2001052214A1
Application number: PCT/GB2001/000123
Authority: WO
Inventors: Cook Laurence
Original assignee: Endusis Limited
Priority date: 2000-01-15
Filing date: 2001-01-15
Publication date: 2001-07-19
Also published as: GB0000848D0; AU2534701A

Abstract

A security system for use with point of sale (POS) devices. The system has a respective camera imaging the location of each of the POS devices, in addition, a local control unit and local communication means interconnect the local control unit, the POS device(s) and the camera(s). A router or other transmission means is provided to connect the local control unit with a remote location to which one or more images from the respective camera is transmitted upon the occurrence of a predefined operation or event at any of the POS devices. Typically, each POS device will be an electronic till incorporating a card swiping facility and the predefined operations will include or consist of credit or debit card transactions. Alternatively, the POS device may be an ATM and the predefined operations will comprise a request for cash dispensing.

Description

"Security System"

This invention relates to an electronic security system for use in preventing or deterring theft or fraud at locations where transactions involving the supply of goods, services or cash are involved. A primary area to which the present invention applies is that of point of sale terminals in retail premises, but the invention may also be applicable to other situations and equipment such as automated teller machines (ATM's), Electronic Funds Transfer Point of Sale (EFTPOS) and Electronic Cash Registers (ECRs) . All such locations are referred to herein for conciseness as "point of sale" (POS) .

Fraud, for example credit card fraud and fraud by sales staff at point of sale, is a serious problem globally, responsible for large financial losses. Various attempts have been made to reduce this including continuous recording of persons and transactions by video camera, and still photography by concealed cameras triggered manually. Such methods are indiscriminate, produce large quantities of records which are difficult to review and assess, have doubtful evidential value, and can pose privacy problems .

The present invention provides a security system for use with at least one point of sale (POS) device, the system including a respective camera, having a video output, imaging a location at each POS device; a local control unit; local communication means interconnecting the local control unit, the POS device (s) and the camera (s) video signal output; and router or other transmission means connecting the local control unit being arranged to transmit to a remote location one or more images from the respective camera upon the occurrence of a predefined operation at any of the POS devices.

Preferably, the local communication means is a Local Area Network.

Optionally, the local communication means is a serial connection.

Typically, each POS device will be an electronic point of sale terminal. Optionally, the electronic point of sale terminal incorporates a card swiping facility and the predefined operations will include or consist of credit or debit card transactions. Alternatively, the POS device may be an ATM and the predefined operations will comprise a request for cash dispensing.

Preferably, the local control unit operates to stamp the image (s) with data defining date, time and location/device before transmission. The datestamped images may be transmitted in association with selected data from the POS; to avoid compromising customers' privacy, such POS data would preferably be limited to the minimum required to provide proof that the image (s) relate to a particular transaction. Optionally, the datestamped images and the POS data may be encrypted

The remote location is preferably an electronic store at which the transmitted data and image (s) are stored as received for a given period of time, and are only retrieved for image reconstruction if a fraud is detected or suspected.

The transmission to the remote location is preferably via a public communication network, which may conveniently be the Internet where preferably, data from a large number of sites is warehoused.

From another aspect, the invention provides a method for use in detecting fraud at a point of sale (POS) , the method comprising: forming images of persons present at the POS, providing a trigger signal in the event of a predetermined occurrence at the POS,

in response to a triggered signal but not otherwise, transmitting to a remote location data defining one or more of said images proximate in time to occurrence of the trigger signal together with data identifying the date, time and place of occurrence.

The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a first embodiment of the invention;

Fig.2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a second embodiment of the invention; and

Fig.3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a third embodiment of the invention.

Referring to Fig. 1, one system according to the invention includes an electronic point of sale terminal 10. A video camera 12 is positioned to capture an image of a customer 14 at the point of sale terminal 10. It will be understood that, in the typical application such as a supermarket, there will be a number of point of sale terminals 10 and cameras 12. These are connected via a local area network indicated at 16 to a control and storage device 18. The LAN 16 also includes a router 20 which is connected to a communications network such as the Internet. The device 18 includes control software and storage means .

The system operates as follows. The device 18 stores one or a short series of snapshots from the output of the camera 12 on the occurrence of a predefined event at the relevant point of sale terminal 10. Such event could be, for example:

(a) whenever a credit card is read at the point of sale terminal, (b) if a card is read for a transaction above a given value, (c) if a card known to have been stolen is read, (d) on any other point of sale terminal software function as required (for example, a "no sale" or refund operation) . (e) where the point of sale terminal operator inputs a code to the point of sale terminal in order to record an event which in their opinion is suspicious or noteable .

The snapshot image (s) are formed into a data packet by the device 18, and the packet is timestamped and related to the EFTPOS data from the point of sale terminal, or other data defining the point of sale terminal and the transaction. This combined information is then encrypted and transmitted via the Internet to a central storage location, such as a data warehouse . where it is simply stored as raw data .

In the event of a fraud being detected or suspected, the data is retrieved according to place, date and time and the image (s) reconstituted for use by law enforcement agencies, banks or credit card providers.

In the event of other criminal activity at the point of sale, the data may be retrieved according to place, date and time and the image (s) reconstituted for use by the retailer or his systems service provider for his own use in tackling the problem.

Optionally, the device 18 may store all video data from all connected cameras 12 for a period, for example a half-hour's images may be stored on hard disk. These images can then be frozen on the actuation of a trigger such as a panic button or intruder alarm for direct retrieval. This is useful on the occurrence of an extreme event such as an armed robbery.

It will be appreciated that the system is triggered by software rather than by special purpose hardware, and can therefore be readily adapted to different situations. From a software perspective, the system preferably connects to the point of sale terminal using an interface that supports TCP/IP protocol, for example Ethernet. This connection could be a LAN as used above, or could be point-to-point or a WAN or internet. It is also preferred that the device 18 runs TCP/IP socket services, which provides an interface to a select sub-set of the device's functionality.

In the embodiment described, the control and storage device 18 is a separate unit connected by a LAN or the like. In a modification, the device 18 could be implemented as a plug- in board to be installed in a PC-based point of sale terminal.

Fig. 2 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. Identical reference numerals to those used in the previous example have been used where the same features are described.

In this example, the security system is for use in a shop which includes a camera 12 located at a POS and two additional cameras 22 and 24. Camera 22 is located over the Tag Barriers at the entrance/exit of the shop and camera 24 is located over an alarmed exit to the shop such as a fire escape.

As is well known, Tag Barriers are found in a variety of shops and are used as a theft prevention measure to detect persons leaving the shop with items which have their tags attached. When such an event occurs, the presence of the tags at or near the barrier is detected by the barrier and an alarm is set off. In this example, the Tag Barriers are linked to the security system such that when the tag is detected, the camera 22 is triggered to take one or more snapshots in order to capture the event that caused the tag to be detected by the barrier.

In addition, a further camera 24 is located over an alarmed exit such as a fire escape. It is often the case that a person attempting to leave a shop illegally with goods will do so through a fire escape or other alarmed exit. In this example, a camera 24 is located over an alarmed exit and the exit is linked to the security system , such that when the alarmed exit is opened, the camera 24 is triggered to take one or more snapshots in order to capture the event that caused the alarmed exit to be opened.

A third embodiment of the present invention is shown in Fig.3. Identical reference numerals to those used in the previous examples have been used where the same fearures are described.

In this example, the security system is adapted for use with a point of sale terminal known as an Electronic Cash Register 30 (ECR) . ECRs are commonly used in small retail outlets having only one or two points of sale (POS) and mostly operate as "stand alone" devices which are not connected together via a LAN. ECRs may have built in credit/debit card readers or may be connected to a separate credit/debit card reader. The security system of the present invention can be connected to an ECR 30 by a serial communications link 32. The camera video output is connected to the storage device 18 by a BNC cable 34.

As with previous examples, snapshots can be taken when a credit card is read at the ECR

1. whenever a credit card is read at the ECR, 2. if a card is read for a transaction above a given value, 3. if a card is read and then declined, 4. on any other point of sale terminal software function as required (for example, a "no sale" or refund operation) .

In addition, the ECR operator can type in a code into the ECR to initiate one or a series of snapshots. This can be done to allow the operator to record an event that in their opinion is worth recording. In this context, the security system can also be attached to a panic button located on the point of sale terminal, where a robbery is in progress.

The above embodiment of the present invention provides a security system which can record predefined events that can be quickly and inexpensively installed in small retail outlets without compromising the level of security provided. Fig. 4 shows a security system in which the storage device 18 is serially connected to two ECR POS terminals 30, to Tag barriers 36 and to an exit 38. This example provides security system with a number of serial connections to the storage device consequently a local area network is not used to connect the ECR POS terminals 30 together.

It is a further advantage of the present invention that the cameras described above can include motion detection software such that, once trading has ceased and the shop has been closed for the day, the present invention can be switched to night mode in order to respond to motion detected by the camera. Therefore, if movement is detected, the camera can take one or more snapshots in response to a signal from the movement detector, and the control and storage device store and/or transmit these snapshots to the remote server together with an alarm command.

Other modifications to the foregoing may be made within the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A security system for use with at least one point of sale (POS) device, the system including a respective camera , having a video output, imaging a location at each POS device; a local control unit; local communication means interconnecting the local control unit, the POS device (s) and the camera (s) video signal output; and router or other transmission means connecting the local control unit being arranged to transmit to a remote location one or more images from the respective camera upon the occurrence of a predefined operation at any of the POS devices.

2. A security system as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the local communication means is a Local Area Network.

3. A security system as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the local communication means is a serial connection.

4. A security system as claimed in Claim 1 wherein each POS device will be an electronic point of sale terminal .

5. A security system as claimed in Claim 4 wherein the electronic point of sale terminal contains a credit/debit card reading facility.

6. A security system as claimed in any preceding Claim wherein the predefined operations include or consist of credit or debit card transactions.

7. A security system as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 3 , wherein the POS device may be an ATM and the predefined operations will comprise a request for cash dispensing.

8. A security system as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein the local control unit operates to add data to the image (s) defining date, time and location/device before transmission.

9. A security system as claimed in Claim 8 , wherein the image (s) and data are transmitted in association with selected data from the POS.

10. A security system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the remote location is preferably an electronic store at which the transmitted data and image (s) are stored as received for a given period of time, and are only retrieved for image reconstruction if a crime is detected or suspected.

11. A security system as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein the transmission to the remote location is via a public communication network.

12. A security system as claimed in any preceding Claim in which public communication network the is the Internet.

13. A security system as claimed in any preceding the system including the respective camera imaging the location at each POS device and further including at least one additional camera for imaging another location.

14. A method for use in detecting fraud at a point of sale (POS) , the method comprising: forming images of persons present at the POS, providing a trigger signal in the event of a predetermined occurrence at the POS, in response to a triggered signal but not otherwise, transmitting to a remote location data defining one or more of said images proximate in time to occurrence of the trigger signal together with data identifying the date, time and place of occurrence.