Communications: electrical – Condition responsive indicating system – Specific condition
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-20
2001-10-02
Hofsass, Jeffery (Department: 2736)
Communications: electrical
Condition responsive indicating system
Specific condition
C340S573100, C340S686600, C340S686100, C340S572100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06297739
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a system and method for providing access to a secured enclosure only to a selected set of animals.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
According to the 1997 U.S. Pet Ownership and Demographics Sourcebook (American Veterinary Medical Association; ISBN: 1882691024), approximately 31.6% of U.S. households have at least one dog and 27.3% of U.S. households have at least one cat. Many of these household pets require access to areas both inside and outside of the home. For example, a dog may spend the bulk of its time indoors, but it typically goes outside for the purposes of urination and defecation. Similarly, many dogs and cats are given the freedom to enter or leave the home at will so that they can have more varied and interesting lives.
Providing a pet access to the inside and outside areas of the household often requires human intervention. Upon notification by the dog or cat that it wishes to enter or leave, the pet owner must open and close a door to allow the pet to pass through. To overcome that problem, the pet owner may provide an access opening (or “doggie door”) that is continually open, or capable of being opened at will by the pet, thereby providing the pet with the freedom of access without requiring human intervention. Such access openings, however, have the undesirable consequence of permitting access to the inside of the home to unwanted animals such as other dogs or cats, raccoons, rodents, or even human thieves.
Efforts have been made to address the security problem associated with “doggie doors.” For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,992,096 to De La Cerda et al. discloses a controllable pet access system that utilizes an identifying tag carried on the collar worn by the pet. To keep out undesired animals while permitting access to the pet, the De La Cerda system attempts to detect the identifying tag worn by the pet upon a motion sensor's detection of the animal at the inside or outside of a pet door. The pet door is only unlocked upon receiving a signal from an appropriately coded tag, thereby providing access to only the desired pet or pets. While somewhat effective, the De La Cerda access system suffers from various deficiencies. First, because the identifying tag is carried by the pet's removable collar, the access system is vulnerable to an unauthorized intruder removing the identifying tag from the pet and using it to enter the home. Second, there is no backup detector in case the first detector is insufficient to prevent abuse. Finally, the De La Cerda access system is not configured to couple to the enclosure's security system, which means that an intruder could break through the pet door undetected. This inability to detect unauthorized breaches of the pet door, a vulnerable point in the household's security to begin with, reduces the overall integrity of the household's security.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a programmable pet security system that surmounts the deficiencies of prior art systems by providing access to an enclosure protected by an existing security system to only a set of one or more selected animals while maintaining a high level of enclosure security. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the animal access system comprises a secured enclosure (e.g., a house, or an area bounded by a fence), an access opening sized to permit an animal to pass there through, an animal door that blocks the access opening, an animal door control module to control when the animal door may be opened, an animal door lock module with at least one corresponding animal door lock, a weight sensor module with a corresponding weight sensor, a motion sensor module with a corresponding motion sensor, an identification sensor module with a corresponding identification sensor, one or more identification devices, a security system interface controller, and a user interface. The identification device, detectable by the identification sensor, is preferably configured to be implanted into the body of each selected animal, or at least carried by the pet in a manner that is not easily removed. The weight sensor module, which is coupled to the weight sensor preferably located outside the animal door, is configured to discriminate between the weights of the selected animals and those of other unauthorized animals. The motion sensor that detects movement near the animal door is preferably mounted on the inside of the animal door. The animal door control module is preferably coupled to the enclosure's security system controller to maintain the integrity of the enclosure's security while permitting the selected animals to enter and exit the secured enclosure at will.
In the preferred mode of operation, the identification sensor module triggers the identification sensor to scan for a selected animal upon being prompted to do so by one of at least two events: either the detection by the weight sensor of a weight for an animal outside the enclosure desiring to come in that corresponds to that of a selected animal, or the detection by the motion sensor of an animal near the inside of the animal door desiring to go out. The identification sensor then determines whether the pet is part of the selected set by scanning for an identification device. If an authorized device is borne by the pet, the animal door control module sends a signal to unlock the animal door, temporarily disabling the security system alarm for a preset period of time.
The present invention provides improved security not found in previously disclosed systems. First, because the identification devices are implantable into the bodies of the selected animals, the risk that an identification device would be lost or taken by someone to access the secured enclosure is virtually eliminated. Second, because the weight sensor can discriminate between animals of differing weights, it provides an additional level of protection from undesirable animals or burglars, even if an intruder were to hand carry the authorized pet to trigger the identification sensor. As soon as the intruder stepped on the weight sensor to pass through the door, the weight sensor module (or animal door control module) would determine that the weight detected does not fall within a pre-selected range. Third, by coupling the security system interface controller with the animal door control module, the animal access system provides access to a set of selected animals while the household security system remains armed and sensitive to unauthorized entry through the animal door or any other door in the enclosure. These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent to the skilled artisan from the following detailed description read in conjunction with the appended drawings, which are meant to illustrate and not to limit the invention.
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patent: 6057764 (1998-08-01), Williams
Hofsass Jeffery
Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP
Previl Daniel
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