Coin operated telephone operation monitoring switch mounting arrangement
First Claim
1. A payphone event monitoring system which may be readily installed in a standard payphone housing using preexisting payphone cutouts and which generates signals indicative of the removal of a coin box, a vault door or a front cover, comprising:
- (a) a first sensor bracket assembly to which is attached a front cover sensor and a vault door sensor;
(b) a second sensor bracket assembly, containing a coin box sensor; and
(c) a means for monitoring the sensors and sending a signal indicative of removal of the coin box, vault door or front cover.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An event monitoring system for payphones is described. Particularly, an arrangement for monitoring events such as the removal of the front cover, vault door and coin box is described. Sensors attached to brackets generate signals indicative of front cover, vault door and coin box removal are sensed by a monitoring circuit and sent to a central telephone office as appropriate. The brackets allow easy mounting of the sensors using existing payphone housing hardware, surfaces and cutouts. Consequently, this mounting arrangement may be used to retrofit standard payphones using only pre-existing mounting locations and holes to include event monitoring capability. The sensors and monitor circuit operate on low power and may be designed to operate in the absence of payphone power.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A payphone event monitoring system which may be readily installed in a standard payphone housing using preexisting payphone cutouts and which generates signals indicative of the removal of a coin box, a vault door or a front cover, comprising:
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(a) a first sensor bracket assembly to which is attached a front cover sensor and a vault door sensor; (b) a second sensor bracket assembly, containing a coin box sensor; and (c) a means for monitoring the sensors and sending a signal indicative of removal of the coin box, vault door or front cover. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for retrofitting a payphone having a standard payphone housing to include an event monitoring capability comprising the steps of:
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mounting at least one sensor attached to a bracket to a pre-existing mounting location in a standard payphone housing using pre-existing holes in the standard payphone housing; using said at least one sensor to generate signals to be sensed by a monitoring circuit; sending a signal from the monitoring circuit to a predetermined number indicative of the occurrence of the event. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification