JPH02280712A - automatic opening/closing mail box - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To keep safely and take out simply mails by sending a lock releasing signal to a mail box door opening and closing mechanism corresponding to a card taken in on the basis of a reading signal from a card reader to open the door of the mail box. CONSTITUTION:A user inserts a card into a card receiving port 18 of a card reader 16. When information such as the number read by a card reader 16 coincides with information previously stored in a memory unit of an opening and closing controller, a door of a mail box 10 corresponding to the card is opened by supplying an ON signal to an electric lock 24 with said controller. When a plunger 26a is pushed out to open a door 14, a microswitch 28 is turned off and the opening of the door 14 can be confirmed by detecting the turning-off of said switch through said controller. When the door is not opened, the opening directing operation is repeated three times. When the door is not still opened, the condition is returned to the initial one in which the card can be inserted again.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to an automatic opening/closing mail box, and particularly to a zero-motion opening/closing mail box installed in an apartment building such as an apartment building and having a box for each residence.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, mail boxes installed in apartment complexes are installed in the entrance hall on the negative floor, and one box is allocated to each residence.

The mail removal door of each box must be constructed so that it can be opened at least by the recipient.

Therefore, in general, there are boxes that can be opened and closed without any locking means, boxes that can be unlocked and opened by mechanical key operation, and boxes that are equipped with a combination lock for each box and a combination of predetermined dial numbers. Those that can be opened by

[Problem to be solved by the invention] If the mail box in the above-mentioned conventional apartment complex is not equipped with any locking means, anyone other than the recipient can freely open the door. However, there was a problem with the lack of security, as the mail could be removed once it had been sent.

In addition, if the lock is mechanically unlocked by key operation, it is necessary to keep the key for the mailbox in order to open the mailbox, so if the key is lost, This had the inconvenience of not being able to open it.

Furthermore, with combination locks, it is necessary to turn the dial left and right in the same way as opening a safe, which takes time and effort, and there is also the problem that if you forget the dial number, you will not be able to open it. Ta.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the various problems mentioned above, and its purpose is to make it possible to open the door of one's own mailbox simply by inserting a card;
To provide an automatically opening/closing mail box capable of safely storing and easily taking out mail items.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, an automatically opening/closing mail box according to the present invention includes a plurality of mail boxes each having a door for taking out delivered items, and a mail box provided for each mail box, A door opening/closing mechanism having a door locking means for locking or unlocking the door based on an electric signal, and an urging means for constantly urging the door in the opening direction and opening the door when the lock is released, and an information storage card receiving opening. a card reader for reading information on the accepted card; and an opening/closing controller that sends a lock release signal to the door opening/closing mechanism of the mail box corresponding to the accepted card based on the reading signal from the card reader, and opens the door of the mail box. It is characterized by having the following.

[Function] According to the above configuration, it is possible to set a mail box corresponding to each residence in an apartment complex using a plurality of mail boxes, and by controlling the door opening/closing mechanism by the opening/closing controller, each mail box can be set up in normal times. Can be locked in closed position.

When the card is accepted and read by the card reader, the opening/closing controller sends an unlocking signal to the door locking means of the door opening/closing mechanism of the mailbox corresponding to the card based on the reading signal from the card reader. As a result, the door is pushed out in the opening direction by the biasing means, and the door of the mailbox corresponding to the card is opened.

As described above, according to the present invention, there is no need to perform troublesome operations such as rotating a combination lock, and the mailbox can be opened by the simple operation of inserting a card. Furthermore, by using an information storage card,
In cases where the entrance/exit door to the entrance hall of an apartment complex is automatically opened/closed using a card, it becomes possible to use the entrance/exit card in conjunction with the card for opening/closing the mailbox, making it possible for each person to have their own key. The inconvenience can also be resolved.

[Embodiments of the Invention] Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIG. 2 is an external view showing the installed state of the embodiment, and shows a state in which an automatically opening/closing mail box according to the embodiment is embedded in the wall of an entrance hall of an apartment building, for example.

In the figure, a plurality of mail boxes 10 are arranged vertically and horizontally, and on the front side of each mail box 10, at least a mail insertion slot 12 and an opening/closing door 14 for taking out mail are individually provided. There is.

Next to the plurality of mail boxes 10 installed in this array,
A card reader 16 is installed, and a card receiver 018 is provided on the front side thereof.

Note that an opening/closing controller that controls opening/closing of the door 14 of each mail box 10 is installed inside the card reader 16.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of each mail box 10, in which FIG. 3(A) is a front view, FIG. 3(B) is a schematic side view, and FIG. 3(C) is a partially cutaway plan view. are shown respectively,
For simplification of the drawing, the wall thickness of the casing of the box 10 is shown by a single solid line.

In addition, in this example, the mail insertion slot 12 and the opening/closing door 14 on the front side are
A display plate 20 (not shown in FIG. 2) is provided between the housing and the housing, and the name, etc. of each resident is written on this plate 20.

The mail insertion slot 12 is provided with * 12 a, and this M 12 a can be rotated using the upper side as a fulcrum so as to push the lower side into the inside of the box 10 . The mail can be inserted into the interior by this push-and-rotate motion.

Further, in FIG. 3(A), the opening/closing door 14 is rotatably supported at its right end, and its left end is rotated forward to open the door.

A door opening/closing mechanism 22 is provided inside the side wall (left side wall in FIGS. 3(A) and (C)) of this mail box 10.
is installed.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of this door opening/closing mechanism, with FIG. 4(A) showing a front view and FIG. 4(B) showing a right side view.

This door opening/closing mechanism 22 includes an electric lock 24 that locks or unlocks the opening/closing door 14 based on an electric signal, and an electric lock 24 that locks or unlocks the opening/closing door 14 based on an electric signal.
It has a biasing mechanism 26 that constantly biases the opening direction, and is further provided with a microswitch 28 for detecting the driving state of a plunger 26a, which is a driving portion of this biasing mechanism.

The electric lock 24 locks the latch 24 based on a signal from an opening/closing controller (not shown) provided in the card reader 16.
By driving a, the opening/closing door 14 is held in a closed state or this holding is released. In addition, 30 is a connector for connecting this electric lock 24 and the opening/closing controller, and 30a is its connection line.

On the other hand, the plunger 26a of the biasing mechanism 26 is always biased in the direction of arrow 100 by a biasing portion 26b having a built-in spring. This biasing direction side end is the opening/closing door 14.
I try to push it in the opening direction. Therefore, when the opening/closing door 14 is not fixed by the latch 24a, it is pushed by the plunger 26a and becomes open. Fourth
Figure (B) shows a state in which the plunger 26a is pushed out in the 100 direction, and at this time the opening/closing door 14 is in an open state. When the door 14 is closed again, the plunger 26a is pushed back in the opposite direction, the door 14 is held fixed by the latch 24a, and the plunger 26a operates the mover 28a of the microswitch 28. is turned on. That is, the microswitch 28 detects the open or closed state of the opening/closing door 14 by detecting the operating position of the plunger 26a, and supplies this opening/closing state signal to the opening/closing controller. A connector 32 supplies a signal from the microswitch 28 to the opening/closing controller via a connection line 32a.

In addition, 34 written on the front side in Figure 4 (A) and Figure 3 (A) is used when the electric lock 24 has some kind of malfunction and cannot be opened using the card, or when the card is lost. This is a key operation unit for opening the door 14 using a mechanical key in such an emergency.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the specific operation of the door opening/closing mechanism 22 shown in FIG.
indicate the open state of the door 14, respectively. First, figure (A
), the latch 24a holds and fixes the door 14. Here, when an ON signal is supplied from the opening/closing controller to the electric lock 24, the latch 24a rotates in the 200 direction.

This rotation releases the state in which the door 14 is held.

By releasing this holding, the door 14 is pushed out in the 100 direction by the plunger 26a, as shown by the arrow 300 in FIG.
direction and becomes open.

The open state of the door 14 is detected by the microswitch 28, this detection signal is supplied to the opening/closing controller, the opening/closing controller stops supplying the ON signal to the electric lock 24, and the latch 24a is in the initial state shown in FIG. Return to
The door 14, which has been pushed back and closed, is on standby in a state where it can be fixedly held.

Next, the specific operation of the automatic opening/closing mail box according to this embodiment will be explained based on the operation flowchart of FIG.

First, in step 1, the user uses the card reader 1.
A card is inserted into the card receiving slot 18 of 6.

In step 2 (S2), it is determined whether or not this card is a regular card. This determination is made by the card reader 16 and the opening/closing controller. That is, it is determined whether the information such as the number read by the card reader 16 matches the information stored in advance in the storage section of the opening/closing controller.

If the card is not a regular card (in the case of No), the card is ejected in step 3 (S3) and returns to the initial state.

If it is determined in S2 that the card is a legitimate card (Yes), the card is similarly ejected in Step 4 (S4), and the operations from Step 5 onwards are performed.

Note that the card is ejected by a card dispensing mechanism provided in the card receiving port 18, and this card dispensing mechanism operates based on a signal from the opening/closing controller.

In step 5 (S5), the initial setting of the opening operation of the door is performed (N-0). And step 6 (S6)
At this step, an instruction to operate the door oven of the mail box 10 corresponding to the card is given. This door opening operation instruction is performed by supplying an ON signal to the electric lock 24 of the mail box 10 corresponding to the card by the opening/closing controller.

And the steps? In (S7), it is determined whether the door 14 is opened or not. This judgment applies to each postal box 1
This is done by the signal from the microswitch 28 of 0. That is, when the plunger 26a is pushed out and the door 14 is opened as shown in FIG. 5(B) and FIG. 4(B), the microswitch 28 is turned off and the opening/closing controller detects this. Then, it is possible to detect that the door 14 of the mail box to which the microswitch 28 is attached is opened. Here, if the door 14 is not opened by the -th signal supply (No), S
The initial setting of N-0 in step 5 is set to N-N+1, and the door open instruction in S6 is repeated until N-3 is reached in step 8 (S8). That is, in this embodiment, if the door is not opened, the door oven instruction operation in S6 is repeated three times.

If the door still does not open, the state is returned to the initial state and the card insertion operation can be performed again.

If it is determined in S7 that the door has been opened (in the case of Yes), the user checks the inside of the mail box IO in step 10 (SIO). If there is mail inside, it can be taken out.

Then, in step 11 (Sll), the door 14 is closed. This action is performed by manually pushing the door in the closing direction. That is, by manually pushing the door 14 from the open state shown in FIG. 5(B) to the state shown in FIG. 5(A), the door 14 is brought into the closed state by the latch 24a of the electric lock 24. It is held and fixed.

As described above, the latch 24a of the electric lock 24 is operated by the ON signal from the opening/closing controller to release the door 14, but after the door 14 is opened, the supply of the ON signal from the opening/closing controller is stopped and the latch 24a returns to the initial state. Since the door 14 has returned to its original position, the door 14 can be held and fixed when the door 14 is pushed to close.

With the above operations 81 to 311, the operation of taking out the mail from the mail box according to this embodiment is completed.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the card reader 16 is configured as a card reader exclusively used for postal boxes, but in order to prevent an increase in the number of card types, it can also be used in conjunction with a card reader at the entrance of an entrance hall of an apartment building, etc. It is. Further, the number of mail boxes 10 to be installed can be set arbitrarily, and the number of mail boxes 10 can be arbitrarily set, and the number of mail boxes 10 can be arbitrarily applied to the size of the number of houses in the apartment complex.

The card may be a commonly used magnetic card or IC card.
Cards are used.

[Effects] As explained above, according to the automatic opening/closing mail box according to the present invention, it is possible to open and close one's own mail box by simply inserting a card, without having to perform mechanical key operations or troublesome rotation operations using dial keys. The door can be opened, making it easier to take out mail. Further, since the door is always closed by the door locking means which opens and closes by electric means except when a regular card is inserted by the door opening/closing mechanism, safe storage of mail is also performed.

Furthermore, since a card is used, it is possible to use a common card for systems such as opening/closing entrance doors or opening/closing delivery management lockers.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment, Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the installation state of the embodiment, Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a mail box, and Fig. 4 is an illustration of the mail box of the embodiment. Door opening/closing mechanism explanatory diagram. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of the door opening/closing mechanism. 10... Mail box 14... Opening/closing door 22... Door opening/closing mechanism 24... Electric lock 24a... Latch 26... Biasing mechanism 26a... Plunger 28... Microswitch applicant Olimbic Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A plurality of mail boxes each having a door for taking out deliveries, a door locking means provided for each mail box for locking or unlocking the door based on an electric signal, and a door locking means for locking or unlocking the door based on an electric signal; a door opening/closing mechanism having a biasing means that is constantly biased and opens the door when the lock is released; a card reader having an information storage card receiving slot and reading the accepted card information; An automatic opening/closing mail box comprising: an opening/closing controller that sends a lock release signal to a door opening/closing mechanism of a mail box corresponding to an accepted card to open the door of the mail box.