FR2594169A1 - System for protecting valuable products especially sums of money and/or banking products - Google Patents

Abstract

System for protecting valuable products, especially sums of money and/or banking products, which are intended to be taken out of use in the event of a theft attempt in their warehousing, storage or safe-keeping locations, or during special transport by rail, sea, air, characterised in that: (a) electronic elements, arranged inside the containers of these products, capable of controlling the states of these contents including the states of their locking system and the states of their walls and/or environment, and to put themselves out of use as well as putting the said products out of use, are linked together and can be linked to sources of information via information media in which coded information continuously flows, (b) these electronic elements carry out tasks which are provided strictly by computer programming, constituting a mandatory general process any disturbance of which brings about the desired putting out of use, (c) the products to be protected are distributed in cassettes which are capable of being equipped with recording media for certain information provided in the process, (d) these cassettes can be housed in compartments forming part of the protected site and each especially comprising: on the one hand, an electronic element capable of communicating with the recording medium of the cassette inserted; and, on the other hand, a device for placing the contents of the cassette inserted out of use, controlled by its electronic element. i

Description

 The present invention relates to systems for protecting particularly desirable products and / or documents or media such as: banknotes, checks or check books, credit cards or other cards usable in electronic money, secret documents, micro-films, recordings magnetic and / or optical, etc.

and in particular the systems which render these products and / or documents unusable in the event of attempted theft.

The system described is to be distinguished from the unlocking and surveillance systems for compartments, widely used in banks, which are concerned with access to these compartments (authorizations-prohibitions according to specific procedures, controls on legal or illegal opening, etc.). ..), any illegal state of the compartment's aces mechanism being detected and treated by the security measures adopted. The present system represents a security measure in itself. It can be associated with these latter systems
Known systems are generally characterized by the use of heavy physical means: armored walls, safes, etc. The decommissioning is most often caused following the detection of surrounding events (radars, etc. These systems are seldom immune from complicity, voluntary or under duress; nor sheltered from skillfully organized and powerfully armed attacks.

 The system according to the invention considerably reduces these risks. In particular, it allows the compulsory assistance of coded information secretly and independently held by several managers who may reside in different places to legally access the protected goods. This information can be transmitted remotely, by teletransmission for example, and is ignored by operators other than these managers.

No single person can therefore, voluntarily or under duress, circumvent the system. Any pressure exerted against one of these officials, and even against a group of people in a given place (hostage-taking, etc.) cannot succeed without the consent of authorities outside (at least one of which can be extremely protected) located outside an emotional environment.

An essential feature of the system is not new: it is described in the French patent application
No. 83 12994 (Publication no .: 2.550.364) which concerns a security system for the transport of funds or bank effects. According to this characteristic, the system is not devoted at all to detecting surrounding events but is exclusively devoted to executing a rigorous coded process.

 Thus, in this application, the goods to be protected are not intended, as usual, to remain intact unless an anomaly is detected, but are intended to be put out of use unless a rigorous process, internal to the system, is fully executed.

 The system uses electronic boxes, some of which, associated with the goods, will give it artificial intelligence enabling it to know this process.

 These boxes can be linked by material or immaterial information supports such as: electrical wires, optical fibers, radio waves, radiation, etc. These connection supports play the essential role of moorings whose efficiency does not lie in their physical solidity but in the secret and permanent dialogue which circulates there.

 In the program of the imposed process appear tests of state of the system which must therefore conform to forecasts. This concerns physical states such as: - states of locking systems, for example: condemned-unlocked, open-closed, etc ...

- container states, for example: their environment, their walls, etc ...

and software states such as: - states of the programs assigned to the electronic units, - states of the progress of the events recorded in these programs, - states of the communications between the electronic units, etc.

 The system described here applies to protect the desirable products in their places of warehousing, storage, etc ... in banks or in security companies for example, or during very specific phases of transport not comparable to transport usual road funds, such as rail, sea, air, etc.

 It immediately appears that protection can be ensured in premises for parking the goods in the same way as that which is the subject of the patent cited above, by assimilating these premises to a fixed vehicle. This is why the present invention essentially relates to a different implementation of the process inside the storage premises, and in particular the design and construction of the accommodation for the goods.

 It is characterized in that the products to be protected are housed in generally fixed compartments and that it is inside these compartments that the degradation devices are intended to render them out of use. These degradation devices therefore do not accompany the goods in their movements. The opposite case, where the goods and the degradation device move together, is described in the patent cited above.

 We will now describe, by way of example for a good understanding of the invention, a means of implementing these arrangements.

 The products to be protected are present in bundles (packaged or not) in a loading "cassette" adapted to the chosen degradation system. This cassette has a means of identifying itself using a recording medium such as: magnetic strip, microprocessor, etc. This medium can receive various codes and signals (for example of control).

 When loaded into a compartment, said cassette can transmit this information to an electronic unit housed in the compartment.

 The compartments, arranged in batteries, are in a room called "room" (classic vault or not). They are made with walls whose state is testable by an electronic box which they contain.

To do this, various treatments are possible. For example: - we can line the internal face of the wall with a material whose electrical characteristics can be modified by any mechanical attack, such as that consisting of two metallic films separated by an extremely thin insulating layer (easy to obtain ) making a short circuit inevitable, - one can also integrate into the material a network of electric wires or optical fibers constituting an impassable mesh under penalty of interrupting a flow of signals circulating in it and programmed in the process mentioned above, - one can still use hollow walls inside which are maintained determined pressures, also programmed in this process, etc ...

 Each of the compartments contains: - a device for degrading the goods contained in the loaded cassette, produced by known means, - an electronic unit connected, for example by electrical wires or optical fibers: to the degradation device and to the locking system of the compartment, to one or more state sensor (s) of its walls, to an electronic unit housed in the chamber, and to the recording medium of the loaded cassette.

 The chamber is made with walls whose state is made electronically testable by various means such as those described above for example. It contains an electronic box connected, for example by electrical wires or optical fibers: to all the electronic boxes contained in the enclosed compartments, to its locking system, to one or more state sensor (s) on its walls, and to a computer system located outside, called "console".

 All the electronic boxes of the system can, according to known means, destroy themselves on their own order, or limit themselves to the destruction of their program in order to preserve computer secrecy.

 Access to the room is controlled from said console located outside, which can be a computer or a computer peripheral, the software of which contains a certain part of the information governing the process to be executed, and in particular the codes secrets introduced by those responsible. These codes are transmitted to the console, preferably as late as possible, by known suitable means, for example both using its keyboard and by telecommunication methods.

 These latter methods make it possible to introduce into the process, from a computer center, random secret codes (supplied for example by completely independent probes) and other codes also received by teletransmission.

This console communicates with the electronic unit of the room, and can instruct and / or read the recording medium of the cassettes
Thus: on the one hand, each cassette can receive a coded identity or communicate its identity if it already has it, and, on the other hand, the electronic unit of the room can know the coded process of the system
Among the innumerable possible operating procedures, one of the simplest will now be described, by way of example.

 A cassette of products to be protected is linked to the console in the room where it must be placed.

 The local manager of the operation instructs the console, using his keyboard, of the information necessary for the adopted process, for example: his coded identification, that of the owner of the products, that of the recipient, the planned storage time, and. e etc ...

 Other remote managers, by teletransmissions, also instruct the console, directly or through the server center mentioned above, other necessary information, for example their coded identification, which will be used to validate the opening of the compartment concerned, as will be seen below.

 An independent source of information, for example the host, instructs the program console of the mandatory process to be performed and enters a secret random code. The center-server has the considerable advantage of being able to manage important files, such as: files of those responsible for transactions, files of owners of the products to be protected, files of all rooms and their compartments, etc. ... and of being able to proceed automatically many essential checks: feasibility, compatibility, authentication, etc.

 The console, after receiving all this information and checking local identifications, transmits its coded identification to the cassette and instructs the electronic unit of the process data chamber.

 The electronic box of the room, after reception of this information, authorizes the opening of the room by unlocking its locking system.

 The operator can then grab the identified cassette and enter the room, where he positions it in a free compartment. This compartment can, according to the procedure adopted, be any free compartment, or a specific compartment assigned to this cassette.

 At this time, the compartment's electronic unit records the identification of the cassette introduced and acknowledges receipt to the chamber's electronic unit, with which it is also connected. These two boxes mutually exchange the information necessary for the execution of the process.

 From this moment, within a period recorded in the process, the operator must close the compartment and then the chamber, which lock by preventing their opening.

 The IT process then runs inexorably. It consists essentially of a permanent dialogue between all the electronic boxes of the compartments and that of the bedroom. It is developed in a more or less complex manner by known computer methods. Any disturbance in its course causes degradation. In particular: any cessation of the flow of information (rupture of the media), any non-conforming physical or software state test, any unexpected change in state of a locking system, are among the most significant disturbances.

 Various measures can be considered. For example: - if the process is disturbed in its compartment state tests, the degradation may only apply to this compartment, - if the process is disturbed in its dialogue between the chamber housing and that of one (or a few) compartment (s), the degradation may only apply to this (or these) compartment (s).

- if the process is disrupted in its chamber condition tests, this indicating that a threat hangs over all the compartments, the degradation may apply to all the compartments loaded.

 Tolerable deviations can be foreseen at all levels, so as to avoid untimely degradations.

 To remove a cassette from a compartment, the local manager identifies himself at the console and informs him of the removal request in the forms planned and known to the process.

 The room unit, informed by the console, performs the checks relating to the identification and authorization instructions contained in the process. In particular, these instructions may require the intervention, by telecommunication, of the remote managers who transmitted their code at the time of the loading request.

 Beyond a determined number of admitted errors, known to the process, the appropriate degradation is executed. If the operations are properly verified, the electronic box of the chamber controls the unlocking of the chamber, as well as the unlocking of the compartment containing the cassette whose removal is requested.

 The operator removes the cassette, an action recognized by the compartment's electronic unit and transmitted to that of the bedroom.

 From this moment, within a period recorded in the process, the operator must leave and close the room, which locks in a locked state.

 It is understood that more general procedures (removal and loading operations carried out at the same time, for example) and more complex can be worked out.

 We observe here that all the instructions mentioned governing the process are specific to one or a few transactions and that the codes and the various parameters can be renewed at will. These changes are easily executable and manageable by computer, and are a most effective weapon against the maneuvers of accomplices who deliver secrets generally frozen for a fixed time (for example: thresholds of intensity or frequency of events controlled by systems of alarm, identification codes, magnetic or other cards, etc.).

We will now describe, by way of example, a way of making the compartments which makes it possible to associate the system which is the subject of the present invention with that of the patent.
France No 83 12994 mentioned above.

 This patent relates to portable "boxes" which also contain a degradation device and whose state of the walls is also made electronically testable, and having a housing for containing valuable products to be transported. Each of these boxes is equipped with an electronic box, housed inside and connected, among other connections: få its locking system, to a special device allowing its connection to the outside, and to its degradation device.

 With regard to transport, the electronic boxes of these boxes are also instructed by a rigorous IT process, the proper functioning of which guarantees the intact preservation of the products transported. These instructions are transmitted, for a given transport, by a departure console and an arrival console similar to that described above. By procedures similar to those described above, the merchandise to be preserved is removed and ends up in the immediate vicinity of these consoles located in a safe place.

 The present invention can take over from the previous one to ensure the same security in fixed storage or guarding compartments, or moving under special conditions as seen above.

 The following description is a convenient embodiment to do this.

 The best condition to fulfill is to make the compartments for the goods in the compartments compatible with those of the transport boxes: the same cassettes can then be used in both systems. These cassettes can pass from one system to another either by undergoing a modification of their content at one or the other of the relay consoles (modification accompanied by new instructions to the process from this console), or directly according to a programming of the process verified automatically by a direct connection established with this console-relay.

 In the first case, the cassettes are subjected to the procedure described above.

 In the second case, the direct verification is done by linking the electronic box of the transport boxes with that of the relay console concerned which authorizes the opening of the chamber. The passage of a cassette from a transport case into a compartment or from a compartment to a case can be done by automatic devices controlled and controlled by their electronic boxes (commands contained in the process).

 An embodiment consists in that each console is associated with a special connection base arranged to communicate with the cassettes (for the transactions described above) as well as with the transport boxes, the latter thus being able to be authorized to be piped to a compartment while keeping their cassette locked.

 The compartments are, in turn, made so that an adequate positioning of a box establishes the connection between their electronic boxes, and so that the transfer of the cassette, in one or the other sense, commanded by. one or the other of the two electronic boxes in play, is done automatically.

 We will now describe, by way of example, a means of carrying out a convenient positioning of the transport case relative to the compartment and a means of carrying out the automatic transfer of the cassette.

 The transport case is made so as to grasp or release a cassette on a base as described above. The compartments have a drawer fitted into a receptacle similar to this base. This drawer opens or closes automatically, by known means, on the order of the electronic unit of the compartment, itself controlled by that of the room. The compartment and the transport case have a connection such that the positioning of the case on the receptacle (open drawer) establishes the computer link between their respective electronic boxes. These links, provided for in the process, authorize the requested transfer.

 In general, authorization requests are granted except in the case of operator errors or actual illegal requests. In order to avoid untimely degradations, a number of errors, determined for each circumstance, is tolerated by the process, beyond which the request is considered illegal.

 In the event that the cassette is not housed in a compartment or in a transport case, any illegal request will cause an alarm both locally and with remote managers. If the cassette is housed in one or the other of these two containers, any illegal request causes the degradation of the products it contains.

 It is observed here that the chambers described may not contain only compartments like those described. They can also accommodate transport boxes such as those mentioned above, provided that they are arranged so as to be able to establish connections between their electronic unit and that of the boxes introduced. In the latter case, we are in the operating mode that the French patent No. 83 12994 describes inside a vehicle.

 We also observe that the server center mentioned above can make it possible to provide precious services reinforcing general security, such as: controlling and managing all movements of the products to be protected, in terms of value and places, '' a global or punctual manner (by customers, etc ...), in all the desired forms (present or past states), allowing in particular: to immediately and locally deliver collection or delivery orders and various statements, to know at any time the total amount of the values under surveillance (by tooth, by place of deposit, by type of product etc ...), to carry out a fast and economic accounting of the services performed, to manage movements (absence or presence ) and the container states, etc ...

 In addition, such a host presents the primary interest of being able to be extremely secure. It can be made up of several computers which control each other and which can replace one another in the event of a breakdown, these computers being able to be instructed only by teletransmission, i.e. never to be visited outside of maintenance. It can be underground, in a concrete and / or armored room, under a trapped ground.

 The system which is the subject of the invention can be used in most cases where it is desired to ensure efficiently the protection of particularly desirable products such as those mentioned above, the diversion of which can have incalculable consequences to the point that their exclusion use is preferable. It is particularly suitable in places which are the preferred targets of criminals, such as: banks, guarding premises, deposit stores of large commercial areas, etc., as well as in special transport areas (trains, boats , planes, etc ...).

Claims (10)

 1. System of protection of valuable products, in particular funds and / or banking products, doomed to decommission in the event of attempted theft in their places of storage, stocking or guarding, or during special transport by rail, air, air, characterized in that: (a) electronic elements, placed inside the containers of these products, capable of controlling the states of these containers, including those of their locking system and those of their walls and / or their environment, and order their own decommissioning as well as that of said products, are interconnected and can be linked to information sources by information carriers in which coded information is constantly circulating , (b) these electronic elements execute tasks rigorously planned by computer programming, constituting a general obligatory process of which any disturbance causes the decommissioning wanted, (c) the products to be protected are re left in cassettes which can be equipped with recording media for certain information provided for in the process, (d) these cassettes can be accommodated in compartments forming part of the protected place and comprising in particular each: on the one hand, an electronic element which can communicate with the recording medium of the inserted cassette, and on the other hand, a device for disabling the content of the introduced cassette, controlled by its electronic element.  2. System according to claim 1 characterized in that each compartment, whose state of the walls is testable by its electronic element, is equipped with a device allowing the connection of its electronic element to the outside.  3. System according to claims 1 and 2 characterized in that the compartments are located inside a chamber, the state of the walls of which is electronically testable, containing an electronic element connected in particular to the connection device of each enclosed compartment and to a computer system assigned to it, located outside.  4. System according to claims 1 to 3 characterized in that the access to the room is controlled and controlled by the computer system located outside, which is informed of the process data, in particular by remote transmission.  5. System according to claims 1 and 2 characterized in that each compartment is equipped with a drawer used to insert or take out a cassette, this drawer being made so as to establish a computer link between the recording medium of the cassette and compartment electronics.  6. System according to claims 1,2 and 3 characterized in that the state of the walls of the containers is made testable by the electronic elements housed inside, by integration into their material of an information carrier forming a mesh. a break of which interrupts a flow of signals known to the process.  7. System according to claims 1,2 and 3 characterized in that the state of the walls of the containers is made testable by the electronic elements housed inside, by the use of hollow walls inside which prevails a pressure different from that of the ambient environment, and a perforation of which causes a pressure variation not anticipated in the process.  8. System according to all of claims 1 to 4 characterized in that one of the sources of information communicating the process data to the various electronic elements of the assembly is a computer center-server, the tasks of which consist : (a) to receive instructions and codes from authorized managers, in particular by remote transmission, (b) to receive random data supplied by various probes, and to enter them into the process, (c) to store and manage all the useful parameters , both constant and variable, characterizing all the operations executable in a given implementation of the system, (d) developing and coding the process, taking into account the data received and the parameters relating to each transaction, (e) transmitting its results IT systems assigned to the various chambers involved in the planned transactions, in particular by remote transmission.  9. System according to all of claims 1 to 8 characterized in that it can be associated with a fund transport system using electronic transport containers operating in a manner similar to that of the compartments and which may contain, locked, identical cassettes, using the following equipment: (a) the computer system assigned to each room has a connection allowing it to enter into computer link with these containers, thus being able to authorize their entry or exit from the room with their cassette remained locked, (b) the or certain compartments have a connection allowing them to enter into computer link with these containers, thus being able to authorize the locking or unlocking of their cassette, (c) these compartments have a device for transferring a cassette from one compartment to a container and vice versa.  10. System according to all of claims 1 to 8 characterized in that it can be associated with a fund transport system using electronic transport containers operating in a manner similar to that of the compartments and which may contain, locked, identical cassettes, using the following equipment: (a) the computer system assigned to each room has a connection allowing it to enter into computer link with these containers, thus being able to authorize their entry or exit from the room with their cassette remaining locked, (b) the chamber has receptacles for these containers, which receptacles are made so as to establish a computer link between the containers that they receive and the electronic element of the chamber.