Anti-theft device with alarm screening

A method for remotely providing security to an article, the method comprising:

• providing the article with (a) a remote device and (b) a device attached to the article, the device having a motion detector, a proximity transmitter, and an alarm, and
• detecting whether there is a movement of the article using the motion detector;
• in response to the movement, determining whether the article is within a near field proximity of the remote device using the proximity transmitter;
• and
• in the absence of a confirmation signal from the remote device to indicate that the article is within the near field proximity of the remote device, causing the alarm to generate a signal to indicate that security of the article has been compromised.

An anti-theft system comprising:

• (a) a control unit having:
• a control transceiver capable of transmitting and receiving data signals;
• and
• an activation element coupled to the control transceiver and capable of directing the control transceiver to transmit an alarm signal representative of a command to activate an alarm;
• and
• (b) a theft detector having:
• a proximity transmitter for transmitting a proximity signal having a near field proximity to the control transceiver;
• an alarm;
• and
• a detector transceiver coupled to the proximity transmitter and the alarm for providing bi-directional transfer of data signals, the detector transceiver, in the absence of a confirmation signal from the control transceiver to indicate that the control unit is within the near field proximity, being capable of (i) transmitting to the control transceiver an alert signal to indicate to a user that an article is no longer within the near field proximity, and (ii) activating the alarm in response to the alarm signal received from the control transceiver, which alarm signal may be generated by a user triggering the activation element of the control unit in response to the alert signal.

A method for remotely providing security to an article, the method comprising:

• providing the article with (a) a remote device and (b) an attached device having a proximity transmitter and an alarm, and
• determining whether the article is within a near field proximity relative to the remote device using the proximity transmitter;
• and
• in the absence of a confirmation signal from the remote device indicating that the article is within the near field proximity to the remote device, causing an alert signal to be directed to the remote device;
• and
• transmitting a signal from the remote device to the alarm so as to generate a signal to indicate the article is no longer within the near field proximity to the remote device.