Mobile kiosk for intelligent securable devices system

• US 10,096,183 B2
• Filed: 06/02/2015
• Issued: 10/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Best Lockers, LLC (Assa Abloy AB)
• Original Assignee: Best Lockers, LLC (Assa Abloy AB)
• Inventors: Nitu, Christian, Finney, Cory, Zaniker, John
• Primary Examiner(s): PENDLETON, DIONNE
• Application Number:
  US14/728,887
• Publication Number:
  US 20150356801A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,225 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2009/00277 opening of different locks separately
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2009/00349 and the lock having only one limited data transmission range
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2009/00769 with data transmission performed by wireless means
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00571 operated by interacting with a central unit
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00904 for hotels, motels, office buildings or the like
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00912 for safes, strong-rooms, vaults or the like
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/38 with central registration
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/001 Interfacing with vending machines using mobile or wearable devices
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/002 Vending machines being part of a centrally controlled network of vending machines
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A system and method of controlling a securable device in a set of securable devices may include establishing a centralized data repository with data representative of status of each securable device. Communications with a mobile kiosk application executing on a mobile device of a user may be established. Responsive to receiving a request from the mobile kiosk to identify an available securable device local and accessible to the user, the centralized data repository may be accessed, at least one securable device that is available may be identified, and data associated with the identified available securable device(s) may be communicated to the mobile kiosk to cause the mobile kiosk to communicate at least a portion of the data to one of the securable device(s). Responsive to receiving a status update of the securable device, the centralized data repository may be updated with the status update of the associated securable device.

Claims

1. A securable device within a set of a plurality of securable devices that enable users to secure items, said securable device comprising:

a computing unit;

a memory unit in communication with said computing unit;

a charge device in communication with said computing unit and said memory unit;

a short-range communications device in communication with said computing unit, and configured to communicate a short-range wireless communications protocol; and

an electromechanical lock device in communication with said computing unit, said short-range communications device configured to enable a user operating a mobile kiosk on a mobile device capable of communicating using the short-range communications protocol to communicate data with the computing unit, said computing unit configured to;

process data received from the mobile device via the short-range wireless communications protocol;

responsive to determining that the data is addressed to the securable device having a network identifier from among the set of securable devices having other network identifiers, (i) process the data to control said electromechanical lock device of the securable device and (ii) update status data of the securable device; and

communicate status data and the network identifier via said short-range communications protocol to the mobile kiosk to cause the mobile kiosk to update a data repository inclusive of network identifiers and status data of each of the securable devices of the set of securable devices with the status data of the securable device.

2. The securable device according to claim 1, wherein the status data is a lock state of said electromechanical lock device.

3. The securable device according to claim 1, wherein the data includes the network identifier and PIN.

4. The securable device according to claim 3, wherein said computing unit, in processing the data, is further configured to determine whether the PIN matches a PIN previously stored by said memory unit, and responsive to determining that the PIN matches the PIN previously stored by said computing unit, cause the electromechanical lock to transition from a locked state to an unlocked state.

5. The securable device according to claim 1, further comprising a user interface in communication with said computing unit, and configured to enable a user to submit a PIN, and wherein said computing unit is configured to compare the submitted PIN with a previously stored PIN, and responsive to said computing unit determining that the submitted PIN matches the stored PIN, cause said electromechanical lock to transition from a locked state to an unlocked state.

6. The securable device according to claim 1, wherein said status data is representative of lock state of the electromechanical lock.

7. The securable device according to claim 1, wherein the mobile device is connected to a network to enable the mobile kiosk to be in active communication with a cloud-based management server configured to manage operations of the set of securable devices.

8. The securable device according to claim 1, wherein the mobile device is not connected to a network, which prevents the mobile kiosk to be in active communication with a cloud-based management server configured to manage operations of the set of securable devices.

9. The securable device according to claim 8, wherein the data stored by the mobile kiosk of the mobile device is communicated to the cloud-based management server for storage thereby when the mobile device is reconnected to the network.

10. The securable device according to claim 1, wherein said memory unit is configured to store usage history, and wherein said computing unit is further configured to communicate the usage history to the mobile device for the mobile kiosk to further communicate the usage history to a cloud-based management server for storage thereby.

11. The securable device according to claim 1, wherein said memory unit is configured to store the status data.