ALIGNMENT-RELATED OPERATION AND POSITION SENSING OF ELECTRONIC AND OTHER LOCKS AND OTHER OBJECTS
First Claim
1. An apparatus comprising an alignment sensor system for a lock assembly which is for locking a first object to a second object, the first and second objects being movable relative to each other, the lock assembly comprising a fastener which is for being installed on the first object and for being operable to engage the second object to lock the first and second objects together when the fastener is aligned with the second object;
- wherein the alignment sensor system comprises a sensor for sensing an aligned state at least when the fastener does not engage the second object, the aligned state being a state in which the fastener is aligned with the second object.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A sensing system senses whether or not a lock'"'"'s bolt (140), e.g. deadbolt, is aligned with a hole (150) which the bolt is to engage in the locked state. In electronic locks, the bolt is not driven into the hole until the sensing system indicates that the bolt is aligned with the hole. Another sensing system senses the position of the bolt and/or a dead-latch bar (1310). This sensing system is spaced from the bolt'"'"'s end engaging the hole in order not to interfere with the alignment sensing. The two sensing systems are used to determine whether the lock is locked or unlocked. A magnet system provides alignment assistance to align the bolt with the hole before the bolt is driven into the hole. Position encoding for lock and non-lock devices, and other features and embodiments are also provided.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. An apparatus comprising an alignment sensor system for a lock assembly which is for locking a first object to a second object, the first and second objects being movable relative to each other, the lock assembly comprising a fastener which is for being installed on the first object and for being operable to engage the second object to lock the first and second objects together when the fastener is aligned with the second object;
wherein the alignment sensor system comprises a sensor for sensing an aligned state at least when the fastener does not engage the second object, the aligned state being a state in which the fastener is aligned with the second object. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An apparatus comprising a position sensor system for a lock assembly which is for locking a first object to a second object, the first and second objects being movable relative to each other, the lock assembly comprising a bolt which is for being installed on the first object and for being operable to engage the second object to lock the first and second objects together;
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wherein the second object comprises a hole into which the bolt is to extend to engage the second object but from which the bolt retracts to unlock the first object from the second object; wherein the bolt has a first end (“
engaging end”
) which is to engage the second object to lock the first object to the second object, and the bolt has a second end opposite from the first end;wherein the lock assembly comprises a dead-latch bar coordinated with the bolt such that when the bolt is extended and the dead-latch bar is retracted, the lock assembly provides increased resistance to retracting the bolt by pressing on the engaging end; wherein the position sensor system is for sensing the position of the dead-latch bar. - View Dependent Claims (17)
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18. An apparatus comprising an alignment assistance system for a lock assembly which is for locking a first object to a second object, the first and second objects being movable relative to each other, the lock assembly comprising a fastener which is for being installed on the first object and for being operable to engage the second object in an aligned state in which the fastener is aligned with the second object, to lock the first and second objects together in the aligned state;
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wherein the first and second objects are for being positioned so that in the aligned state, the first object is movable relative to the second object in at least two opposite directions; wherein the alignment assistance system comprises magnetic material in the first and second objects, the magnetic material being arranged so that at least when the first and second objects are in a vicinity of the aligned state, the magnetic material urges the first and second objects into the aligned state, and when the first and second objects are in the aligned state, then the magnetic material resists the first and second objects moving out of the aligned state in any one of the two opposite directions. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21)
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22. A position encoder system comprising:
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a spectral apparatus comprising a light source, the spectral apparatus being for generating a plurality of alternative spectral properties based on a plurality of predefined non-overlapping frequency bands, each spectral property comprising a unique set of one or more of the frequency bands, each spectral property being associated with a unique one of a plurality of positions; a sensor system for sensing the spectral properties and generating a position indication associated with the spectral property sensed by the sensor system. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
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25. A position encoder system comprising:
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a beam generation apparatus for generating a plurality of beams; a sensor system comprising a plurality of first sensors each of which is operable to generate an indication of sensing or not sensing at least one of the beams; wherein the sensor system is operable to recognize, from said indications, which of the first sensors is sensing at least one of said beams and which of the first sensors is not sensing any one of the beams, the sensor system being thus operable to recognize any set of one or more of the first sensors such that each first sensor in the set senses at least one of the beams and each first sensor outside of the set does not sense any one of the beams; wherein for a plurality of said sets, each set in the plurality of sets is associated with one of a plurality of positions of the beam generation apparatus, and the sensor system is operable to be calibrated to recognize any one of said positions upon recognizing the associated set but not upon recognizing at least one other set in the plurality of sets.
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Specification