Back to results
US 6,047,575 AGranted
Electronic padlock
AssigneeSLC Technologies, Inc.
InventorsWayne F. Larson, Christopher Raymond Kickner
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The latching components of the padlock are driven by a motor between positions for latching and releasing the padlock shackle. Power for the motor is provided by a source carried in an electronic key. An encoder element with associated optical elements provides position information to the control circuit carried inside of the padlock. The control circuit correlates the position information with the signal directing power to the motor so that the motor is precisely controlled for moving the latching elements between release and latch.
Claims16
An electronic padlock assembly, comprising:
- a body;
- a shackle having at least one end that can be latched to and released from the body;
- a latch assembly including a rotary member, the latch assembly being contained within the body and operable by a motor for latching and releasing the end of the shackle;
- an encoder coupled to the rotary member and movable into a closed position when the end of the shackle is latched and into an open position when the end of the shackle is released;
- a circuit contained within the body for detecting the position of the encoder and for generating encoder position information relating to the encoder position;
- wherein the encoder position information indicates whether the shackle is latched or released.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.