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US 12,725,478 B2Granted
Systems and methods for providing a size and/or shape discriminating lock
OwnerThomas Pettit Munsoninventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods for operating a locking device. The methods comprising: performing operations by at least one sensor of the locking device to generate sensor data indicating at least one of a size of an animal and a shape of an animal; comparing, by a processing unit of the locking device, the size of the animal to at least one threshold value and/or the shape of the animal to a reference shape; classifying, by the processing unit, the animal as an authorized animal or an unauthorized animal based on the comparing; and granting or denying access to an internal area of a compartment based on the classifying. The granting comprises actuating a lock of the locking device such that the lock transitions from a locked position to an unlocked position.
Claims18
A method for operating a locking device, comprising:
- performing operations by at least one sensor of the locking device to generate sensor data indicating at least one of a size of an animal and a shape of an animal;
- comparing, by a processing unit of the locking device, the size of the animal to a minimum threshold size value and a maximum threshold size value to determine whether or not size limits are met, the size limits being met when the size of the animal falls between the minimum and maximum threshold size values;
- classifying, by the processing unit, the animal as an authorized animal or an unauthorized animal based on the comparing, wherein the animal is classified as an authorized animal when results of the comparing indicate that size limits are met and the animal is classified as an unauthorized animal when the results of the comparing indicate that the size limits are not met;
- and
- granting or denying access to an internal area of a compartment based on the classifying;
- wherein the granting comprises actuating a lock of the locking device such that the lock transitions from a locked position to an unlocked position;
- wherein the at least one sensor is at least partially integrated with a grip structure configured to facilitate manual opening and closing of an access panel of the compartment;
- and
- wherein the at least one sensor comprises a capacitive touch sensor configured to measure capacitance, the sensor data specifies a change in capacitance detected by the capacitive touch sensor, and the method further comprises performing capacitive thresholding by comparing the measured capacitance to a threshold that was selected based on a minimum or maximum size for the authorized animal.
6 more elements
A locking device, comprising:
- a lock;
- at least one sensor configured to generate sensor data indicating at least one of a size of an animal and/or a shape of an animal, the at least one sensor being at least partially integrated with a grip structure configured to facilitate manual opening and closing of an access panel of a compartment;
- and
- a processing unit configured to
- compare the size of the animal to a minimum threshold size value and a maximum threshold size value to determine whether or not size limits are met, the size limits being met when the size of the animal falls between the minimum and maximum threshold size values;
- classify the animal as an authorized animal or an unauthorized animal based on the comparing, wherein the animal is classified as an authorized animal when results of the comparing indicate that size limits are met and the animal is classified as an unauthorized animal when the results of the comparing indicate that the size limits are not met;
- and
- grant or deny access to an internal area of the compartment based on a classification of the animal;
- wherein the access to the internal area of the compartment is granted by actuating the lock of the locking device such that the lock transitions from a locked position to an unlocked position;
- and
- wherein the at least one sensor comprises a capacitive touch sensor configured to measure capacitance, the sensor data specifies a change in capacitance detected by the capacitive touch sensor, and the processing unit is further configured to perform capacitive thresholding by comparing the measured capacitance to a threshold that was selected based on a minimum or maximum size for the authorized animal.
8 more elements
A controllable output power circuit, comprising:
- a processor;
- and
- a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising programming instructions that are configured to cause the processor to implement a method for operating a locking device, wherein the programming instructions comprise instructions to:
- obtain sensor data indicating at least one of a size of an animal and/or a shape of an animal;
- compare the size of the animal to a minimum threshold size value and a maximum threshold size value to determine whether or not size limits are met, the size limits being met when the size of the animal falls between the minimum and maximum threshold size values;
- classify the animal as an authorized animal or an unauthorized animal based on the comparing, wherein the animal is classified as an authorized animal when results of the comparing indicate that size limits are met and the animal is classified as an unauthorized animal when the results of the comparing indicate that the size limits are not met;
- and
- grant or deny access to an internal area of a compartment based on the classifying;
- wherein the granting comprises actuating a lock of the locking device such that the lock transitions from a locked position to an unlocked position;
- wherein at least a portion of the sensor data is generated by at least one sensor that is at least partially integrated with a grip structure configured to facilitate manual opening and closing of an access panel of the compartment;
- and
- wherein the at least one sensor comprises a capacitive touch sensor configured to measure capacitance, the sensor data specifies a change in capacitance detected by the capacitive touch sensor, and the programming instructions further comprise instructions to perform capacitive thresholding by comparing the measured capacitance to a threshold that was selected based on a minimum or maximum size for the authorized animal.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.