US Patent Issued to Cardtronics USA on Aug. 11 for "Media protection through media deformation" (British Inventor)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 12 -- United States Patent no. 12,705,944, issued on Aug. 11, was assigned to Cardtronics USA Inc. (Atlanta).

"Media protection through media deformation" was invented by Adam Jack Bela Muir (Edinburgh, Great Britain).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A media cassette includes a housing that stores media items and incorporates a security mechanism to protect against theft. The security mechanism includes a heating element positioned within the housing and a power source connected to the heating element. When unauthorized access is detected, the heating element activates to generate temperatures sufficient to damage the media items within the housing while remaining below tem...