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US 10,378,241 B2Granted
Wireless ultra-low power portable lock
AssigneeVelo Labs, Inc.
InventorsJack Al-Kahwati, Gerardo Barroeta Perez
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A wireless ultra-low power portable lock may be realized as a lock apparatus including: a locking mechanism having at least locked and unlocked states, the locking mechanism operable to provide physical resistance to being unlocked when in the locked state; an actuator operable to move the locking mechanism from the locked state to the unlocked state in response to a received signal; and a controlling unit configured to control the actuator and to receive one or more signals from one or more devices external to the lock apparatus.
Claims17
A portable lock apparatus, comprising:
- a lock having at least locked and unlocked states, the lock operable to provide physical resistance to being unlocked when in the locked state, the lock including a shackle, a lockbar, at least one locking pin, at least one spring, an actuator, and a rotatable latch,
- wherein the at least one locking pin can compress the spring when loaded with a force from a user when inserting the shackle into the lockbar and the rotatable latch can move into an engaged state to cause the locked state in which the shackle is engaged at least partially within the lockbar,
- wherein the at least one spring operates independently of and is not in contact with the rotatable latch, wherein the at least one spring causes the at least one locking pin to engage in a notch in the shackle to retain the shackle within the lockbar in the unlocked state, and
- wherein the actuator is operable to move the rotatable latch from the locked state to the unlocked state in response to a signal, wherein the rotatable latch need not overcome a force from the at least one spring to move from the locked to the unlocked state;
- and
- a controller to control the actuator and to receive the signal over a wireless connection from one or more devices external to the lock apparatus, wherein the controller is further configured to:
- establish the wireless connection with the one or more devices;
- authenticate a user of at least one of the one or more devices;
- and
- control the actuator to unlock the lock based on instructions sent over the established wireless connection;
- wherein the portable lock apparatus is self-contained such that the lock and the controller are components of the portable lock apparatus;
- and
- wherein the portable lock apparatus is portable.
10 more elements
A portable lock apparatus comprising:
- a lock having at least locked and unlocked states, the lock including a shackle, a lockbar, at least one spring, at least one locking pin, and a rotatable latch, wherein the at least one spring operates independently of and is not in contact with the rotatable latch, and wherein the at least one spring in the lock is compressed with a force from a user;
- an actuator operable to move the lock from the locked state to the unlocked state in response to a received signal, wherein the actuator rotates the rotatable latch to move the lock to the unlocked state, wherein the rotatable latch need not overcome a force from the spring to move from the locked to the unlocked state, and wherein, in the unlocked state, the at least one spring causes the at least one locking pin to engage in a notch in the shackle to retain the shackle within the lockbar;
- a controller to receive the signal from one or more devices external to the lock apparatus over a wireless link and to control the actuator to unlock the lock based on instructions from the signal, wherein the controller is further configured to:
- establish the wireless link with the one or more devices;
- authenticate a user of at least one of the one or more devices;
- and
- control the actuator to unlock the lock based on instructions sent over the established wireless link;
- and
- a sensor to detect contextual information associated with the portable lock apparatus so that the controller can determine that a tamper condition exists and provide an alert in response to the tamper condition.
6 more elements
A portable lock apparatus comprising:
- a lock having at least locked and unlocked states, the lock including a shackle, a lockbar, at least one spring, at least one locking pin, and a rotatable latch, wherein the at least one spring operates independently of the rotatable latch;
- an actuator operable to move the lock from the locked state to the unlocked state in response to a received signal, wherein the actuator rotates the rotatable latch to move the lock to the unlocked state, wherein the rotatable latch need not overcome a force from the at least one spring to move from the locked to the unlocked state, and wherein, in the unlocked state, the at least one spring causes the at least one locking pin to engage in a notch in the shackle to retain the shackle within the lockbar;
- a controller to receive the at least one signal from one or more devices external to the portable lock apparatus over a wireless link and to control the actuator to unlock the lock based on instructions from the signal, wherein the controller is further configured to:
- establish the wireless link with the one or more devices;
- authenticate a user of at least one of the one or more devices;
- and
- control the actuator to unlock the lock based on instructions sent over the established wireless link;
- and
- at least one of a sensor or a button on the portable lock apparatus to cause the lock to move from the locked to the unlocked state, the sensor or the button comprising another way to cause the lock to move from the locked to the unlocked state.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.