JP2001191429A - Printed security code for paper such as cardboard in carton or container - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a simple, inexpensive security system which can monitor a product in each step from production to sale. SOLUTION: A printed security code assembly 2 for a carton or a container 4 of paper such as cardboard has a security code. The code stores switchable pieces of information 6, 8, 10 about each step from production to retail. The code is arranged at an optional position in the container 4, and the pieces of information 6, 8, 10 stored in the code can be read only by a code reader and changed over to be turned on/off.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing security code applicable to paper materials such as cardboard used for forming cartons and containers. This type of structure provides a simple, low-cost security system that functions as an invoice, check-in list, or sales confirmation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Currently used approaches to security are classified into the following three categories. (A) visual / visual observation or monitoring of theft;
(B) Prohibition of the customer from touching the goods without payment; (C) Warning when unpaid goods are taken out of the front door. The principles and limitations of each of these security categories are described below.

[0003] With respect to category (A), placing surveillance is a traditional method for regulating theft in stores. Initially, surveillance was done only by vigilance employees, but today it is likely to include remote video cameras and / or security personnel hired for it. These traditional security approaches have lost support for the following reasons: (1) Increasing costs due to constantly maintaining surveillance; (2) Keeping the entire store in surveillance due to limited funds and personnel, and the need for large displays at high altitudes Difficulty of keeping; (3) If employees are caught by customer spies rather than services, service time may be lost and quality customers may leave; (4) The stealing has a limited effectiveness of surveillance; (5) the fact that surveillance is resisted because of unpopular "images".

[0004] With respect to category B, this security concept is used to minimize the physical movement of the product until the customer attempts to purchase the product. Common customer regulation approaches to accomplish this include (1) locking the product with a lock and key so that it is not visible at times; (2)
Placing goods in a locked, glass-backed display; (3) Utilize a catalog showroom that displays a single product chained to shelves and backed up by warehouse packed goods That, there is.

[0005] Locks and keys and glass displays disappoint legitimate customers because they have to find a helping clerk to "see" the product.
With such disappointment, most customers no longer feel impulse.

[0006] With regard to catalog showrooms, these showrooms are limited in physical contact with the samples because the samples are chained together. Although this can prevent theft at the sales floor and prevent damage to the goods, the purchase is very time-consuming and slow. The reason is that the general stages include ordering, shipping, shipping, notification and verification / removal. The catalog showroom approach also produces products that are very "shattered" and must be discounted, discarded, or donated to charity.

For Category C, Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) has become a recent approach to preventing theft by customers. EAS utilizes electronic printed circuits embedded in security tags or labels. This tag is activated by store associates, manufacturers and shippers before the item is placed on the shelf. It must be deactivated at the time of sale, or the audible alarm will be turned off when the goods pass through a special "gate". Alarms are typically turned off by radio frequency (RF), electromagnetic (EM) or acoustic-magnetic signals.

[0008] Semiconductor-based EAS tags or labels are:
It allegedly costs "just a few cents each", but they are not used for all products. These are commonly found in expensive and messy products (coats and electronics) and low value but portable products (liquors, tools, pharmaceuticals).

[0009] The current EAS approach relies on catching thieves at the usual customer exit and is not directed to theft by employers or support personnel. In order to combat theft by an employer, it is necessary to provide a high level of surveillance with cameras and / or to restrict the movement of goods by the employer to certain areas, such as warehouses. They also expect to have essentially unlimited access to these products, know the value of the products, and be "smarter" than fraudulent employers and support personnel who will be able to spot security steps. Difficult.

[0010] Finally, the electronic EAS circuit is typically inserted into a tag attached to the item or hidden under the tag with the conventional bar code. However,
Such metal tags laminated with plastic are contrary to recycling efforts and can be removed by careful thieves.

[0011] The use of tamper-evident security envelopes is also well known. An example of such a conventional technique is the “Tamper-Evident Sec” granted to B. Kistal.
U.S. Patent No. 5,727,686 entitled "urity Envelopes" (hereinafter simply '686).
There is. The '686 discloses unwarranted evidence of visible breakage of the plastic sealant or of a puncture between the two layers, which, if found, would have resulted in a violation during manufacturing, shipping, or employment. It is not known at what stage it occurred, such as when a person or customer stolen.

There are several prior arts that disclose step-wise monitoring, but none of them discuss countermeasures against loss of security. Examples of such prior art include U.S. Pat. No. 3,945,494 entitled "Carrier for Film Cartridges or the Like" to K. Weber et al. Hughes'"Method for Identifying a Characteristic of an O
US Patent No. 5,706,948 entitled "Bject or Contents of a Container" (hereinafter simply '9
No. 48), "Shopping Orga granted to K. Suryk
US Patent No. 5,788, entitled "nizer"
No.073 (hereinafter simply referred to as' 073), KE Mooney
U.S. Pat. No. 5,238,307 entitled "Ore Sample Bag" (hereinafter simply '307).
No.). '494 identifies each stage of the process by "detentes" associated with the film processing stages. '307 describes tracking through ore processing for ore analysis, but does not mention theft. '948 is a natural memory coding (cru
It defines the maintenance that is done or required using de mnemonic coding). '073 attempts to ensure that the grocery list is followed, using coupons. However,
As mentioned earlier, the '494,' 307, and '948
Neither No. nor '073 disclose any means for addressing security loss.

[0013] It is also well known to use security tagging to do more than pin-of-sales (POS) purchases. AM Be is an example of such a prior art.
"Article Inventory Tracking and C granted to lka etc.
US Patent No. 5, entitled "Ontrol System"
No. 777,884 (hereinafter simply referred to as' 884). The '884 discloses an inventory tracking and control system for library collection and video rental, but does not employ cardboard or other paper security codes.

It is also well known to use various security tags for inventory checks, pricing, reordering and shipping to justify security-related costs. Examples of such prior art include E.
"Electronic Inventory Label granted to L. Johnsen
US Patent No. 5,151,684 entitled "Materials Monitoring Systems, Materials Managem," issued to AB Cowe et al.
US Patent No. 5,671,362 entitled "ent Systems and Related Methods" and WA Woolle.
"Managing Assets with Active Electr given to y etc.
US Patent No. 5,77 entitled "onic Tags"
No. 4,876. Although these prior arts employ security tags that are used for inventory checks and other purposes, none of these prior arts uses paper cords such as cardboard for security paper.

Finally, it is also well known to employ an information providing stripe in an airline ticket. An example of such a conventional technique is “Tickets with Extrude given to TJ Breen and others.
No. 5,879,784 (hereinafter '784) entitled "Security Stripe and Method of making Same", which teaches the use of stripes in airline tickets. No consideration is given to adding internal stripes or other types of printing security codes to paper containers or cartons, such as cardboard.

[0016]

From the above, it can be seen that the simplicity of parts and the peculiarity of the structure make it lightweight, add a monitoring function at each stage from manufacturing to sales, and provide a well-known security. It is evident that there is a need in the industry for a security code that is at least as good as its characteristics, and that can be printed on paper cartons and containers with cardboard. Accordingly, the present invention is directed to satisfying these and other needs in the art, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art given the following disclosure.

[0017]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly stated, the present invention satisfies the above needs by providing a printed security code for a paper carton or container such as cardboard, the method of which is provided. Production of products placed inside cartons and containers, receipt of products placed inside cartons and containers, shipment of products placed inside cartons and containers, and production of products placed inside cartons and containers. Providing a security code in the carton or container made of paper, such as cardboard, which includes information on the arrival and the retail of the product placed inside the carton or container, the substrate and the code included in the code. Arranging at an arbitrary position inside the carton or the container so that various information can be read only by the code reader.

[0018] In a preferred embodiment, the printing security code is a two-dimensional code or a stripe code.

In yet another embodiment, the security costs of a carton or container can be drastically reduced by utilizing a print security code. This allows security tagging to be applied to cartons, containers and anything sold.

The preferred printing security code according to the present invention provides a lightweight, easy to install, good durability,
It offers advantages such as good economy, good anti-theft properties and good inventory control. In fact, in many preferred embodiments, these factors, such as economy, anti-theft, and inventory control, can be increased to a significantly higher degree than previously achieved in previously known printing security codes.

The above and other features of the present invention will become more apparent and best understood from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
In these figures, similar members are denoted by similar reference numerals.

[0022]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring first to FIG. 1, there is illustrated an environment in which it is advantageous to utilize the concepts of the present invention, in particular for printing on paper cartons or containers such as cardboard. The illustrated security code assembly 2 (hereinafter simply referred to as “assembly 2”) is shown. The assembly 2 partially includes a container 4, shipping information 6, a warehousing checklist 8, and sales confirmation information 10. Although the container 4 is shown in the figure, it should be pointed out that the concept of the invention can be applied to any type of paper carton or container, such as cardboard, including envelopes, boxes and sheets.

As shown in FIG. 1, printed security code information, that is, shipping information 6, warehousing check list 8, and sales confirmation information 10 are provided at arbitrary positions in the container 4, and these are two-dimensionally printed. It consists of an area 12. In particular, the print area 12 is provided at an arbitrary position inside or inside the container 4, for example. Shipping information 6,
The print area 12 including the receipt check list 8 and the sales confirmation information 10 is printed by a convenient technique. Print area 1
2 is a magnetic ink which can be activated or deactivated by being charged by conventional means, ie switched between "ON" and "OFF" to indicate the stage where the product is located. Consists of The printing area 12 is provided inside or inside the container 4 that cannot be seen from the outside,
Since the worker or the customer does not know that the container 4 has such anti-theft measures, it is impossible to make an attempt to avoid it. For example, the print area 12 may be activated by applying a charge to it by conventional means, eg, a code reader (not shown), ie, switching the print area 12 “ON” and then applying a charge to reverse it. It can be deactivated, ie switched to "OFF". More specifically, when the container 4 is transported from the warehouse to the showroom, the salesperson in that area simply scans the container 4 and the printing area 12 and turns off the part relating to the entry of the printing area 12 to “OFF”. ", And the portion related to the sale of the container 4 in the printing area 12 is turned" ON "
Can be switched to This does not compromise the security of the container 4. As a result, the container 4 can be monitored at each stage from manufacture to sale. Further, the only device required to scan and read information in the print area 12 is a conventional code reader.

As shown in FIG. 2, the print area 12 can be formed on the stripe 18. Here, this stripe 18 can also be arranged at an arbitrary position inside or inside the container.

For example, the printing area 12 can be provided in the vicinity of the corrugated intermediate material of the cardboard container, inside the liner of a cardboard container, other paper containers such as cardboard, or other similar containers.

To further illustrate various aspects of the printed security code described above, potential advantages are outlined below.

1. Manufacturing and Shipping Labeling security during the manufacturing and shipping stages helps to keep track of the various types of articles that are routinely manufactured, packaged, and shipped. A secondary advantage is that fraud during packaging can be prevented. Packaging fraud generally involves the extraction of a manufacturer's goods for sale or insurance, or the fraudulent replacement of the extracted goods with lower value goods that were previously stolen or obtained from competitors. This is done by:

By using the printed security code assembly 2, a manufacturer or a shipper can check the code of the container (or carton) 4 with the code of the production list or the shipment list. If the code and quantity of the merchandise match those of the container 4, there is no fraud or theft.

2. Storage and Storage Each time an article is stored and stored , reading the article with a conventional code reader can help count the number of stored and stored articles. If the code and the number of the sale product do not match those of the container 4, the theft has occurred.

3. Against restocking and theft in stores
Monitoring A retailer or wholesaler can use a security code to monitor items being pulled from a display. By reading the number of items stored in a conventional manner, replenishment can be performed and an alarm for theft can be issued.

Finally, the embedded EAS security device discussed above is connected to a paper container (carton) containing cardboard.
By replacing the printed security code above, the overall recyclability of the package is greatly improved.

[0032] Other features, variations, or improvements that can be made with the above disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, these features, modifications or improvements should be regarded as a part of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a printing security code for a paper carton or container such as cardboard according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a centralized printing security code in the form of a stripe for a paper carton or container such as cardboard according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Security code assembly 4 Container 6 Shipping information 8 Receiving checklist 10 Sales confirmation information 12 Printing area 18 Stripe

Claims (8)

[Claims] A printed security code assembly for cardboard or other paper in a carton or container, the assembly comprising a paper carton or container such as cardboard, and a security secured to the carton or container. The security code is used to manufacture a product placed inside the carton or container, store a product placed inside the carton or container, and ship a product placed inside the carton or container. Contains switchable information regarding the arrival of a product placed inside the carton or container and the retail of the product placed inside the carton or container, wherein the code is located at any location inside the carton or container. Located so that various information contained in the code can be read only by the code reader and ON
An assembly that can be switched between and OFF. 2. The assembly of claim 1, wherein said security code is printed on said carton or container. 3. The assembly of claim 2, wherein said security code comprises a magnetic code. 4. The assembly of claim 1, wherein said security code comprises a magnetic stripe. 5. A method for constructing a printed security code assembly for a paper carton or container, such as cardboard, comprising: manufacturing a product to be placed inside the carton or container; Warehousing of the product placed inside the container, shipping of the product placed inside the carton or the container, receiving the product placed inside the carton or the container, and loading of the product placed inside the carton or the container. Providing a security code including switchable information relating to retailing in a carton or container made of paper such as cardboard, and the base material and the code are combined with various information contained in the code only by a code reader. Arranging at an arbitrary position inside the carton or container so that the carton or container can be read; and manufacturing, receiving, and shipping the carton or container. It is,
The information is turned on or off as it is received and sold.
Switching to FF. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein said security code is printed on said carton or container. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein said security code comprises a magnetic code. 8. The method of claim 5, wherein said security code comprises a magnetic stripe.