System and method for tracking document shredding and voter ballots
AssigneeDataShield Corporation
InventorsJames Paul Aschoff, Brian Anthony Gubbels
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A networked system of connected and trackable document deposit and destruction kiosks can be used to remotely dispose of and destroy confidential documents and monitors and records compliance with employer document destruction policies. A networked system of connected ballot deposit kiosks can be used to safely deposit, track, and verify the locations of completed ballots and to monitor and track the subsequent collection of the ballots by election officials or other authorized persons.
Claims20
A kiosk for tracking deposition of an item having data associated with the item, the kiosk comprising:
- a lock box comprising:
- a deposit compartment configured to receive and temporarily retain the item;
- a door configured to be opened for depositing the item into the deposit compartment;
- a locking mechanism configured to unlock the door upon receiving an unlock instruction;
- a secured receptacle configured to receive the item from the deposit compartment;
- and
- a deposit actuator configured to selectively allow the item to pass from the deposit compartment to the secured receptacle;
- and
- a kiosk computing device including a processor configured to instruct the locking mechanism to unlock and lock the door of the lock box only if the data associated with the item is valid.
A kiosk for tracking deposition of items in containers, wherein some of the containers having associated data and some of the containers do not have associated data, the kiosk comprising:
- a data acquisition device configured to obtain the associated data;
- a lock box comprising:
- a deposit compartment configured to receive and temporarily retain the containers;
- a door configured to be opened for depositing the containers into the deposit compartment;
- a locking mechanism configured to unlock the door upon receiving an unlock instruction;
- a secured receptacle configured to receive the containers from the deposit compartment;
- and
- a deposit actuator configured to selectively allow the containers to pass from the deposit compartment to the secured receptacle;
- and
- a kiosk computing device including a processor configured to instruct the locking mechanism to unlock and lock the door of the lock box:
- in a pre-registered container mode only if the scanned associated data is valid;
- and
- in an un-registered container mode only if the processor receives a correspondence entry, the processor being configured to generate and transmit a deposit confirmation and an update representative of a container status in the un-registered container mode.
A kiosk for tracking deposition of an item having data associated with the item and for vending merchandise, the kiosk comprising:
- a lock box comprising:
- a deposit compartment configured to receive and temporarily retain the item;
- a first door configured to be opened for depositing the item into the deposit compartment;
- a first locking mechanism configured to unlock the first door upon receiving a first unlock instruction;
- a secured receptacle configured to receive the item from the deposit compartment;
- a deposit actuator configured to selectively allow the item to pass from the deposit compartment to the secured receptacle;
- a second door configured to be opened to provide access to the secured receptacle;
- a second locking mechanism configured to unlock the second door upon receiving a second unlock instruction;
- a third door configured to be opened to provide access to vending merchandise;
- a third locking mechanism configured to unlock the third door upon receiving a third unlock instruction;
- a fourth door configured to be opened to provide kiosk computing device access;
- and
- a fourth locking mechanism configured to unlock the fourth door upon receiving a fourth unlock instruction;
- and
- a kiosk computing device including a processor configured to generate and transmit the first unlock instruction only if the data associated with the item is valid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.