Telephonic communications – Telephone line or system combined with diverse electrical... – Remote control
Patent
1991-11-04
1994-05-17
Chan, Wing F.
Telephonic communications
Telephone line or system combined with diverse electrical...
Remote control
H04M 1100
Patent
active
053135180
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to electronic locking devices. In particular the invention relates to a simple device and method for locking drawers, doors or other closable compartments in furniture such as office desks. Modern telephones which are connected to electronic switching exchanges produce a tone whose frequency depends upon the number dialed. When dialing a number in this way a series of tones are supplied along the telephone line and the tones are reproduced by the ear piece of the telephone. The frequencies of the tones produced are of known internationally accepted values.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
We have now realized that those output tones can be used in a novel manner to control a lock for a lockable compartment in a piece of furniture on which the telephone rests, e.g. an office desk is typical.
According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a method of releasing a lockable compartment in a piece of furniture, in which the user places a telephone handset near a sound receiver and dials on the telephone a coded number. The resulting tones output produced by the telephone is received by the sound receiver, decoded, and compared with a preselected code for releasing the lock. The lock is released if the said resulting tones output corresponds with the preselected code.
Also according to the invention there is provided a lock release for a closable and lockable compartment in a piece of furniture comprising a microphone capable of receiving the tones of a telephone during dialing and a decoder for receiving the output from the microphone and converting preset frequency tones to a binary data signal output. Comparing means compare the binary data signal output with preset data corresponding to a valid sequence of tones and provide an output release signal if the comparison is valid. The output signal causes a mechanical releasing means to release the lock.
The invention also extends to a piece of furniture such as an office desk having a lockable compartment closed by such a lock release.
The invention provides a very simple way of releasing a lock and is very convenient since a separate key, which can easily be misplaced, is not necessary. Instead, the invention uses the output tones of a telephone which is normally readily available. The lock is secure, however, since the user can preset the lock to accept a particular code number unique to him and known only to him, e.g. a series of four digits. All the user has to do is place the telephone earpiece near the microphone and dial the series of four digits on the telephone to release the lock.
The microphone and decoder will be adapted to receive and decode frequencies within the well known range of frequencies corresponding to the dialing tones of electronic switching telephone exchanges.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a diagram of an office desk having a drawer which can be opened according to the invention;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the main components of the invention;
FIG. 3 is a more detailed diagram of the decoder and lock release mechanism; and
FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating the operation of a lock according to the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
As shown in FIG. 1, an office desk 10 has a locked drawer 12. The lock (not shown in FIG. 1) for this is normally closed, but can be released as will be described. A small microphone 14 is incorporated into the body of the desk 10.
Resting on the desk is a telephone 16 of the type which produces a series of tones when dialing a number, i.e. a different tone frequency corresponds to each number pressed on the telephone dial 18 (these frequencies are well known and internationally recognized.)
The telephone 16 has a handset 20. When the drawer 12 is to be unlocked, the handset is taken from the telephone and the ear piece placed close to the microphone 14 so that the dialed tones are received by
REFERENCES:
patent: 3801742 (1974-04-01), O'Brien et al.
patent: 3917911 (1975-11-01), Lesher
patent: 4436958 (1984-03-01), Hansen et al.
patent: 4887078 (1989-12-01), Cho
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