Communications: electrical – Selective – Intelligence comparison for controlling
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-11
2004-11-30
Zimmerman, Brian (Department: 2735)
Communications: electrical
Selective
Intelligence comparison for controlling
C070S278100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06825753
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to time lock storage. More particularly, the present invention relates to a new lockable storage assembly with programmable opening actuation and status display, primarily used for providing access to the contents of the storage assembly at a time chosen by a user to suit an occasion.
BACKGROUND ART OF THE INVENTION
Time locks and time-accessible containers having access at predetermined times are not new. Timed storage devices have been developed to accomplish a variety of tasks, such as limiting the frequency of smoking by making cigarettes unavailable, limiting the frequency of eating by preventing access to food, and dispensing medicines.
All of these devices have a means for locking the container against unrestricted access to the interior of the container, and mechanisms for setting a predetermined time at which the container may be opened. However, the function of each prior invention determines, and limits, its capabilities. Thus, for inventions which are designed to limit access to cigarettes, the user is locked out of the container for a period ranging from 15 minutes to perhaps three hours. For inventions designed to dispense medicines, the user is limited to setting an access time up to perhaps a day, while a user may perhaps extend this time somewhat for time lock food containers. No invention to date allows a user to set a predetermined time for opening of the container at a desired predetermined time in the future in excess of a day or two; each invention in the prior art is instead keyed on biological time periods, generally the time period one might reasonably expect to allow between successive smokes, doses, or meals.
Moreover, the methods by which users set a predetermined time between successive openings of the containers in the prior art does not allow setting the time for opening incrementally into the future. Rather, each invention in the prior art provides only for opening after relatively large, set period, such as one hour, two hours, or a day.
Further, the methods by which users set a predetermined time between successive openings of the containers in the prior art does not allow setting the time for opening at a specific calendar day or time of day. Rather, each invention in the prior art provides only for opening at a time interval after the closing of the container, or at a time interval after otherwise setting the time for opening.
Further, the apparatus of the prior art do not provide any means for keeping the apparatus supplied with electrical power for the extended periods of time envisioned for closing items within the container of this invention, periods of time which may run only minutes, or years into the future. Rather, each invention in the prior art, to the extent it provides for power to run electronic components, anticipates only so much power as is necessary to their purpose, power which may be supplied without backup or alternate power sources.
Finally, the apparatus of the prior art do not provide information on the length of time the container has been closed, the length of time left to unlocking, time of day, date, or other information useful to the user, nor do they generally provide audible or visual indications that the container is either open or closed.
The present invention is a new time lock container apparatus for containing objects, such as rings, papers, or other items, in which the user may set a time and date for opening in the future. The purpose of the present invention is to prevent access to the contents of the container, as with other inventions in the prior art, however the nature of the objects placed within the container require capabilities not heretofore found. Thus, one might place a ring in the container, and set the timer of the container to open on the date of an anniversary, whether the anniversary is one month away, or some date indefinitely in the future. Or one might place a savings bond in the container, and set its opening for the maturity date of the bond. In any event, the container of the present invention is a place of safe keeping for some set period of time, or perhaps a toy or novelty item for keeping objects for some set period of time, the length of such time being chosen by the user or the manufacturer in light of the purpose at hand.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
The use of time locking containers of various designs and configurations is known in the prior art. Such designs include:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,660,998 to Ishijima, which discloses a cigarette holder with time locking mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,762,601 to McLaughlin, which discloses a medication dispensing cabinet.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,798,937 to Sysk, which discloses a cigarette holder with time locking mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,851,506 to Simon, which discloses a cigarette holder with time locking mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,367,955 to Ballew, which discloses a medication container with timer top.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,536 to Robinson, which discloses a food container with time locking mechanism.
A number of other patents relate to various timers, such as that found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,361,408 to Wirtschafter, which discloses a timer and alarm apparatus for use with medication containers, and a large number of time lock mechanisms for use in bank vaults and the like.
While the devices disclosed in these prior patents fulfill their respective objectives, these prior patents do not describe or suggest a device for storing objects for a selected period of time, such period of time chosen by the user to correspond to any future date and time, while displaying information about the time passed since closing the container, and the time remaining to opening of the container, and other information desirable to the user.
In this respect, the time lock container of the present invention substantially departs from pre-existing designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides the user with a means for accomplishing all of the above tasks. By using the invention disclosed herein, the user thereby gains the desirable abilities to set a time and date for opening of the container, whether a set period in the future or at a particular calendar time and date, and to thereby hold selected objects secure, for the user or someone else, until the arrival of the selected instant for opening, while displaying a variety of useful or desirable information on the status of the container, or other useful or desirable information.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention overcomes the problems and disadvantages of the prior art by allowing users to program the opening of the time-lock container of the present invention (referred to herein as the “lockbox,” or the “time-lock box”), and by providing a display by which the programming, and other functions of the timed closure of the invention, may be monitored.
More specifically, the lockbox of the present invention consists of a container main body having an opening, through which objects may be passed so as to be placed within the container, and a container door or other closure, by which a user may prevent access to the interior of the container. A means for securing the container door to one or more sides of the container main body is provided whereby a user may lock the door in position, thereby making the interior of the container inaccessible. A locking mechanism between the door and the main body of the container may be engaged, by the physical action of the user, so as to lock upon closing the door. The locking mechanism may be disengaged according to the wishes of the user, by instructions supplied by the user and held in memory within a set of components designed to actuate the locking mechanism (the set of actuating components referred to herein as the “programmable closure utility”).
The programmable closure utility of the present invention includes a micro processor, a timer, non-volatile read-only (ROM) or flash type, volatile random access (RAM) memory, an interrupt, and a display, all of which components may be
Cardinale Salvatore J.
Morse Richard
Cook Thomas W.
Zimmerman Brian
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