Electronic real estate lockbox system with improved reporting capability
First Claim
1. A method of operating an electronic real estate lockbox system, the system including an electronic lockbox, an electronic key, and a central computer, the method comprising:
- placing a dwelling key in a lockable compartment inside the lockbox, the dwelling key permitting access to a property listed for sale by a listing real estate agent, the listing agent being affiliated with one of a plurality of local real estate offices, said local real estate office in turn being affiliated with a regional real estate board;
providing the lockbox with a lockbox identification code;
providing the electronic key with a key identification code;
entering a user code on a keypad associated with the key;
verifying from the user code that the user entering the code is an authorized user of the key;
relaying data between the electronic key and lockbox;
providing visual feedback from the key to a user of the key indicating the user'"'"'s progress in accessing the lockbox compartment;
unlocking the lockbox compartment to allow access to the dwelling key contained therein in response to the data relayed between the key and lockbox;
storing transaction data specifying the date and time of the unlocking transaction, together with at least one of either the lockbox identification code or the key identification code, in a memory, said data being in raw numeric form;
transferring the transaction data from the memory to the central computer, said central computer being located remotely from the local real estate office;
providing the computer with interpretive data permitting the computer to correlate the key or lockbox identification code to a textual counterpart identifying the key or lockbox, respectively;
interpreting the transaction data with said interpretive data to produce an interpreted activity report that includes interpreted textual, rather than raw numeric, data;
establishing a telephone link between the central computer and the real estate office with which the listing agent is affiliated; and
transmitting by facsimile the interpreted activity report to the real estate office with which the listing agent is affiliated.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic real estate lockbox system includes a facsimile reporting capability. More particularly, numeric data detailing the location of a lockbox, dates and times of accesses to the lockbox, and the identities of the keyholders who accessed the lockbox, is transferred from the lockbox to a central computer. The central computer interprets this numeric data to provide human-readable names, addresses, etc. After translation, the central computer formats the data for facsimile transmission to the local real estate offices that require the information to track usage of the lockbox. A variety of other features are also disclosed.
116 Citations
15 Claims
-
1. A method of operating an electronic real estate lockbox system, the system including an electronic lockbox, an electronic key, and a central computer, the method comprising:
-
placing a dwelling key in a lockable compartment inside the lockbox, the dwelling key permitting access to a property listed for sale by a listing real estate agent, the listing agent being affiliated with one of a plurality of local real estate offices, said local real estate office in turn being affiliated with a regional real estate board; providing the lockbox with a lockbox identification code; providing the electronic key with a key identification code; entering a user code on a keypad associated with the key; verifying from the user code that the user entering the code is an authorized user of the key; relaying data between the electronic key and lockbox; providing visual feedback from the key to a user of the key indicating the user'"'"'s progress in accessing the lockbox compartment; unlocking the lockbox compartment to allow access to the dwelling key contained therein in response to the data relayed between the key and lockbox; storing transaction data specifying the date and time of the unlocking transaction, together with at least one of either the lockbox identification code or the key identification code, in a memory, said data being in raw numeric form; transferring the transaction data from the memory to the central computer, said central computer being located remotely from the local real estate office; providing the computer with interpretive data permitting the computer to correlate the key or lockbox identification code to a textual counterpart identifying the key or lockbox, respectively; interpreting the transaction data with said interpretive data to produce an interpreted activity report that includes interpreted textual, rather than raw numeric, data; establishing a telephone link between the central computer and the real estate office with which the listing agent is affiliated; and transmitting by facsimile the interpreted activity report to the real estate office with which the listing agent is affiliated. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
Specification