FR3139151A1 - autonomous and connected secure storage box - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a box (1) for storing objects having a movable access door (3) capable of moving from a closed position for which it closes an opening in the box (1), to a position of opening for which it releases said opening and allows access to said objects. According to the invention, the access door (3) comprises a closing lock (20) associated with an electronic device carried by the box (1) and the activation of which makes it possible to unlock said lock (20) to open the door access (3), the electronic device can only be activated by a single specific trigger, which is separate from said electronic device. Figure for abstract: Figure 7

Description

autonomous and connected secure storage box

The present invention relates to an autonomous and connected secure storage box.

Such a storage box can be used as such to store objects, by being placed on the ground and/or by being hung on a fixed structure such as a building wall. It can also be used in a vehicle, by being attached to a horizontal platform thereof. For this second configuration, the box is reversibly fixed to said platform and can either be used directly on this platform or be detached from it before being used on a surface outside the vehicle. The expression “use the box” means to open the box to then access the goods stored inside it. Indeed, the box is provided with at least one means of access in the form for example of a sliding or pivoting curtain, which can be moved manually between a closed position for which it completely closes the box preventing any access to this, and an open position for which it has moved from the closed position to make way for an opening allowing access to the goods stored therein.

A problem encountered with this type of box is that it is at the mercy of potential thieves, who may attempt to either separate it from the vehicle platform and then take it to an unknown location and open it, or open directly on the vehicle platform or in a storage area of the box to access the goods stored inside it.

A storage box according to the invention is equipped with tamper-proof means preventing anyone other than authorized persons from opening it to access the goods stored inside it.

The subject of the invention is an object storage box having a movable access door capable of moving from a closed position for which it closes an opening in the box, to an open position for which it releases said opening. and provides access to said objects.

According to the invention, the door comprises an electric closing lock associated with an electronic device included in the box and the activation of which makes it possible to unlock said electric lock to open the door, the electronic device being able to be activated only by a portable trigger specific, which is separated from said electronic device. In other words, the principle of a box according to the invention is to have a means of inviolability, through an electric lock associated with an electronic device for unlocking said lock, which can be activated by means of a specific portable trigger held by a person authorized to open the box. This trigger can for example be a smartphone into which a specific application has been downloaded. For this scenario, a specific code corresponding to a well-identified box must be entered into the application to unlock the specific lock of this box. This trigger can also be, for example, a badge with an electronic chip, which can remotely activate the electronic unlocking device. The electronic device can also be equipped with a receiver, and the trigger can be represented by a badge which must be moved near said receiver to unlock the electric lock. The electronic device may also include a VIGIK type card. The box can be configured to rest directly on a reception surface, and/or to be secured to a horizontal platform of a vehicle with specific and tamper-proof attachment means. Preferably, the box comprises a hollow body having an opening on which the door is placed. The door can be presented, for example, in the form of a rolling curtain made up of a plurality of contiguous and articulated slats. It can also be one-piece and pivotally mounted on the body. The box can only adopt one position, also called functional position, for which it includes a floor and a ceiling both extending in a horizontal plane, and three side walls joining said ceiling to said floor. For this configuration, the opening of the box replaces a fourth side wall and extends preferentially in a vertical plane. Preferably, the box is equipped with four feet extending under a floor of said box and equally distributed under said floor.

According to a possible characteristic of the invention, the box comprises an energy source and a current accumulator connected to said energy source, said current accumulator powering the electronic device, to unlock the electric lock at any time. By embedding the energy source and the current accumulator, a storage box according to the invention is perfectly autonomous and can thus be transported anywhere, before unlocking the electric lock. The current accumulator can for example be an electric battery.

According to a possible characteristic of the invention, the energy source is composed of at least one solar panel placed on an external surface of the box and connected to the current accumulator. The energy source is thus natural and pre-existing, and does not require the installation of a specific energy source which would be a source of additional cost. As the energy expenditure generated by the use of the electronic device to unlock the lock is quite low, a single small solar panel can be sufficient to ensure several lock unlockings. The term “small size” means that the surface area of the solar panel is less than half of the external surface on which it is placed.

According to a possible characteristic of the invention, the solar panel is placed on an upper and horizontal surface of the box. In fact, this upper surface which is advantageously horizontal, represents the surface of the box which is most exposed to the sun.

According to a possible characteristic of the invention, the electronic device comprises a specific electronic card connected to the current accumulator, the trigger being a badge activating said electronic card. This electronic card can for example be a VIGIK type card. This card has the advantage of being compact, and therefore does not risk encroaching on the available volume of the box. For such an electronic card, the trigger can for example be a specific badge having an electronic chip capable of remotely activating the electronic device. This trigger can also be a specific badge having an electronic chip and needing to be moved near the card to activate the electronic device and unlock the electric lock.

According to a possible characteristic of the invention, the badge has an activation button allowing the electronic card to be activated remotely. This activation button allows you to activate an electronic chip in the badge which will send a signal to the electronic card of the electronic device to activate said electronic device.

According to a possible characteristic of the invention, the electronic device comprises a receiver and the badge must be moved near said receiver to activate said electronic card.

According to a possible characteristic of the invention, the box comprises a floor consisting of two horizontal and superimposed walls, said two walls providing between them a space in which the current accumulator and the electronic card are placed. In this way, the current accumulator and the electronic card do not emerge into an interior space of the box and therefore do not risk interfering with objects which would be placed inside the box. Likewise, the entry and exit of objects repeatedly into the box does not risk degrading the position of the electronic card and the current accumulator in the box, because said objects are not in direct contact with these two elements.

According to a possible characteristic of the invention, the box has four hollow feet placed under a floor of said box, the electronic card being housed in one foot and the current accumulator being housed in another foot. Advantageously, the feet are initially hollow and therefore do not need to be extensively remachined to become storage spaces. For this configuration, the available storage volume of the box is absolutely not reduced by the presence of the current accumulator and the electronic card. The box thus retains its initial storage volume.

According to a possible characteristic of the invention, the box includes a 12 volt socket making it possible to power the electronic device with an external electrical source, in the event of a complete discharge of the accumulator. Indeed, the box should not become inoperative due to the drying up of the energy supply source of the electronic device. It must be operational at all times. This socket allows you to connect an external electrical source to the box, to power the accumulator and the electronic card of the electronic device of said box so as to be able to open it.

Another subject of the invention is a vehicle comprising a platform having at least one fixing zone of a box according to the invention.

According to the invention, the fixing zone comprises a horizontal wall from which four peripheral studs emerge and a central fixing device, the box comprising four peripheral hollow feet and a central complementary fixing device, the box being secured to the fixing zone by placing the four hollow feet in the four peripheral studs and making the fixing device cooperate with the complementary fixing device.

Below is a detailed description of a preferred embodiment of a box and a vehicle according to the invention, with reference to the following figures:

There is a perspective view of a storage box according to the invention,

There is a perspective view of an upper wall of a storage box according to the invention,

There is a perspective view of a foot of a storage box according to the invention,

There is a perspective view of a platform of a vehicle on which a storage box according to the invention can be secured,

There is a perspective view from below of a storage box according to the invention, said box being configured to be fixed to the platform of a vehicle,

There is a perspective view of a vehicle equipped with a platform on which four storage boxes according to the invention are secured,

There is a top view of the interior of a storage box according to the invention, showing the location of an electronic card and a current accumulator.

Referring to Figures 1, 4 and 6, a storage box 1 according to the invention has a hollow body 2 and an access door 3 pivotally mounted on said body 2 between a closed position and a fully open position. This body 2 has a parallelepiped shape comprising a bottom 4, a ceiling 5 and three side walls 6, 7, 8 joining said bottom 4 and said ceiling 5. Among these three side walls 6, 7, 8, two side walls 6, 8 are parallel and a third wall 7 connects said two parallel side walls 6, 8 while being perpendicular to said two parallel side walls 6, 8. The storage box 1 has four hollow feet 9 each having a square cross section, said four feet 9 originating on the bottom 4 and extending under said bottom 4. The bottom 4 has a rectangular shape and the four hollow feet are placed at the four corners of said bottom 4. The storage box can only be used in one position functional for which:
-the bottom 4 and the ceiling 5 are parallel and extend horizontally, the ceiling 5 being placed above and to the right of the bottom 4, and
-the three side walls 6, 7, 8 each extend in a vertical plane, defining a resulting U-shaped part,
-said storage box 1 rests on its four feet 9.

Thus designed, the storage box 1 has an opening, in place of a fourth side wall which would enclose an internal space of said storage box 1.

Referring to Figures 1 and 6, the access door 3 of the storage box has two planar segments 10, 11, of which a first segment 10 has a great length, and a second segment 11 of which has a reduced length which is less to the length of the first segment 10. The first segment 10 and the second segment 11 are perpendicular. The access door 3 is mounted on the body 2 so that the second segment 11 is mounted in rotation around an axis of rotation of the ceiling 5. In this way, in the closed position, the second segment 11 of the access door extends horizontally by extending the ceiling 5, while the first segment 10 extends vertically by closing the opening of the storage box 1, as is illustrated in the . It should be noted that the second segment 11 of the access door 3 and the ceiling 4 of the body 2 of the storage box 1 has a junction zone 12, and the axis of rotation is placed in the body 2 of the box 1 to proximity of this junction zone 12. In the completely open position not illustrated in the figures, the access door 3 has pivoted around the axis of rotation from the closed position, so that the first segment 10 is moves away from the body 2 of the storage box 1 while being inclined relative to its vertical position when the access door 3 closes the box 1. Advantageously, in the fully open position the second segment 11 extends in a vertical plane and the first segment extends in a horizontal plane, corresponding to a 90° rotation of the access door 3 from the closed position.

Referring to Figures 1, 2 and 3, the storage box 1 can rest on any flat surface, preferably horizontal or slightly inclined.

Referring to Figures 4, 5, and 6, the box can also be secured to a horizontal platform 13 of a vehicle 14. In the example illustrated in , the vehicle 14 can carry four small storage boxes 1. In another example not illustrated in the figures, the vehicle can only carry a single large storage box 1, the storage volume of which would be four times greater than the storage volume of a single storage box 1 of more small size. The horizontal platform 13 of the vehicle 14 therefore comprises at least one fixing zone 15 intended for securing a single storage box 1 on said platform 13. This fixing zone 15 comprises a horizontal wall 16 of square or rectangular shape, from which emerge four peripheral studs 17 placed at the four corners of said horizontal wall. This fixing zone 15 also includes a central fixing device 18 placed in the middle of the four studs 17 and intended for fixing the storage box 1 on the platform 13.

Referring to the , the storage box 1 comprises a complementary fixing device 19 placed under the bottom 4 between the four hollow feet 9. More precisely, the complementary fixing device 19 occupies a central place under said bottom 4. The storage box 1 is secured to the fixing zone 15 by placing the four hollow feet 9 of said box 1 in the four peripheral studs 17 of the fixing zone 15 of the platform 13, and by making the fixing device 18 of the fixing zone 15 cooperate with the complementary fixing device 19 placed under the bottom 4 of the storage box 1. The studs 17 make it possible not only to guide the storage box 1 at the moment when it is placed on the platform 13 of the vehicle 14 before its fixing on said platform 13, but also to block the position of said storage box 1 on said platform 13 in preventing it from moving on it in an XY plane.

Advantageously, the complementary fixing means 19 and the fixing means 18 form a fixing system which is similar to that described in application FR3102423. Schematically, the fixing device 18 comprises two locking members mounted movably on the platform 13 in a perforated housing, between an inactive position for which they are parallel and aligned along a vertical axis Z, and an active locking position for which they moved away from each other. The complementary fixing device 19 comprises a fixing wall provided with an opening. In the inactive position, the two locking members are placed next to each other and therefore have a reduced cross section. During the operation of mounting the storage box 1 on the platform 13 of the vehicle, when the fixing wall arrives above the locking members, they easily penetrate into the opening of said fixing wall since they are in the inactive position. Once placed inside said fixing wall, they are activated so as to move away from each other and to retain the fixing wall, which is secured to the storage box 2, against the box in which are housed the two locking members and which is fixed to the platform 13 of the vehicle 14. The movement of the two locking members to approach or move away from one another can be carried out in a motorized manner. Once the storage box 1 is secured to the platform 13 of the vehicle 14 it remains inviolable.

Referring to Figures 1, 2 and 7, the access door 3 of the storage box 1 comprises an electric closing lock 20 associated with an electronic device included in the storage box 1. Activation of the electronic device by means of a specific portable trigger causes the unlocking of the electric lock 20, which will then allow the access door 3 to be opened. The trigger is a transportable manual object, which could for example be a badge or a smartphone, and which is designed to activate the electronic device, either remotely or by contact.

When the trigger is a smartphone, an application specifically dedicated to unlocking the storage boxes 1 will have been previously downloaded into said smartphone. It is then sufficient to enter a specific code into this application, corresponding to the storage box 1 considered, to activate the electronic device and result in the unlocking of the electric lock 20 of this storage box 1. The code must be secret and must only be known by a very limited number of people not exceeding five people. We can in fact imagine that the activation code is only known to the employee of the company managing the storage boxes and who finds himself in the field, or to a possible customer who takes possession of a package which would be housed in box 1. The company sends a code by courier to the potential customer, who can then unlock the electric lock 20 to open the access door 3 of box 1.

When the trigger is a badge, the electronic device comprises an electronic card 22. The badge can be equipped with an electronic chip and a person authorized to open the box will activate the electronic device placed in the storage box 1,
-either remotely by sending a signal with the badge to the electronic device, this signal can be sent by pressing a button placed on said badge to activate an electronic chip,
-either by bringing the badge close to a receiver of the electronic device. For the latter case, the electronic card 22 can for example be of the VIGIK type.

So that the access door 3 of the storage box 1 can be opened anywhere, said box 1 must have its own electricity supply system. In the context of the present invention, this power system preferably comprises an energy source 23 and a current accumulator 24.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, the energy source 23 is constituted by at least one solar panel 25, placed on one of the walls delimiting the body 2 of the storage box 1. Preferably, the solar panel 25 is placed on an exterior surface 26 of the ceiling 5, said ceiling 5 constituting the wall of the box 1 which is most likely to be irradiated by the sun.

Referring to the , when the trigger is a badge and the electronic device comprises an electronic card 22 for example of the VIGIK type, said electronic card 22 and the current accumulator 24 are inserted in a false floor of the storage box 1 so that these two elements 22 , 24 do not interfere with the objects or goods stored in the box 1. In other words, an additional wall is inserted in the storage box 1 just above the bottom 4. This additional wall extends parallel to said bottom 4 and provides with it a free space in which the current accumulator 24 and the electronic card 22 are stored. Although this solution is satisfactory, it has the slight disadvantage of somewhat restricting the available storage volume of said box 1.

Referring to the , another arrangement solution consists of placing the electronic card 22 and the current accumulator 24 in two different hollow feet of the storage box 1. By placing each of these two elements 22, 24 in a hollow foot 9 of the storage box 1, it is no longer necessary to create a double floor which would reduce the available storage volume of said storage box 1. For this arrangement configuration, the initial available volume of the storage box 1 is preserved.

By unlocking the electric lock 20 of the access door 3 of the box 1 several times and at short intervals of time, it cannot be excluded that the current accumulator 24 embedded in the box 1 ends up completely shutting down. unload. Since it is not possible for the access door 3 of the storage box 1 to remain closed without the possibility of opening, a storage box 1 according to the invention comprises a 12V external power supply jack 27 for connecting a electric current supply source which is external to the storage box 1. In this way, a storage box 1 according to the invention will always remain operational, including when the current accumulator 24 is completely discharged. Preferably, the Jack socket 27 is placed in one of the hollow feet 9 of the storage box 1. In this way, if the box 1 were secured to a vehicle platform 23, the Jack socket 27 would be placed at a certain height, which would allow a person to easily connect an external current source to said box 1, without having to bend down. exaggeratedly.

Claims (11)

Box (1) for storing objects having a movable access door (3) capable of moving from a closed position for which it closes an opening in the box (1), to an open position for which it releases said opening and allows access to said objects, characterized in that the access door (3) comprises a closing lock (20) associated with an electronic device carried by the box (1) and the activation of which makes it possible to unlock said lock (20) to open the access door (3), and in that the electronic device can only be activated by a specific portable trigger, which is separate from said electronic device. Storage box according to claim 1 characterized in that it comprises an energy source (23, 25) and a current accumulator (24) connected to said energy source (23, 25), and in that said accumulator (24) current supplies the electronic device to unlock the electric lock (20) at any time. Storage box according to claim 2, characterized in that the energy source (23) is composed of at least one solar panel (25) placed on an external surface (4, 5, 6, 7, 8) of the box (1 ) and connected to the current accumulator (24). Box according to claim 3, characterized in that the solar panel (25) is placed on an upper and horizontal surface (5) of the box (1). Storage box according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that the electronic device comprises a specific electronic card (22) connected to the current accumulator (24), and in that the trigger is an activating badge said electronic card (22). Storage box according to claim 5, characterized in that the badge has an activation button allowing the electronic card (22) to be activated remotely. Storage box according to claim 5, characterized in that the electronic device comprises a receiver and the badge must be moved near said receiver to activate said electronic card (22). Storage box according to any one of the claims
5 to 7, characterized in that it comprises a floor (4) consisting of two horizontal and superimposed walls, and in that said two walls provide between them a space in which the current accumulator (24) and the electronic card (22). Storage box according to any one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that the box has four hollow feet (9) placed under a floor (4) of said box (1), and in that the electronic card (22) is housed in a foot (9) and the current accumulator (24) is housed in another foot (9). Storage box according to any one of claims 2 to 9, characterized in that it comprises a 12 volt socket (27) making it possible to power the electronic device with an external electrical source, in the case of a complete discharge of the current accumulator (24). Vehicle (14) comprising a platform (13) having at least one fixing zone (15) of a box according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the fixing zone (15) comprises a horizontal wall (16) from which four peripheral studs (17) and a central fixing device (18) emerge, and in that the box (1) comprises four peripheral hollow feet (9) and a complementary central fixing device (19), the box (1) being secured to the fixing zone (15) by placing the four hollow feet (9) in the four peripheral studs (17) and by making the fixing device (18) cooperate with the complementary fixing device ( 19).