KR102599596B1 - Pickup box equipped with automatic door opening and sterilization function and control method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

Automatically opens the door of the pick-up box to store and deliver items in an unmanned location for convenience, and sterilizes the item when the door is closed to prevent bacterial infection. This relates to a pickup box equipped with opening and sterilization functions and its control method. When a door opening request signal occurs while the door is locked, the magnetic force of the door lock within the EM lock unit is released to automatically open the door, and when the door is opened, the door is automatically opened. The opening time is counted, and when the door is closed after the door is opened, the door lock generates magnetic force to close the door. The door opening time counted after the door is closed is checked, and the sterilization time is determined according to the confirmed door opening time. According to the determined sterilization time, the sterilizer is operated to sterilize the inside of the body, automatically opening the door of the pickup box and sterilizing it.

Description

Pickup box equipped with automatic door opening and sterilization function and control method thereof}

The present invention relates to a pickup box equipped with an automatic door opening and sterilization function and a control method thereof. In particular, it automatically opens the door of the pickup box for storing and delivering goods in an unmanned place, thereby promoting convenience. , It relates to a pickup box equipped with an automatic door opening and sterilization function that performs sterilization when the door is closed after withdrawing items and prevents contagion due to bacterial infection, and a method of controlling the same.

In general, a pickup box equipped with a door and used to store items inside (hereinafter, packaging boxes, unmanned delivery boxes, unmanned vending machines, and pickup boxes are collectively referred to as pickup boxes) is a space for storing items inside. This is provided.

In order to accommodate an object inside the pickup box, the user must manually open the door, and then manually close the door after placing the object to be accommodated inside.

In addition, in order to retrieve an item stored inside the pickup box, the door is manually opened, the item stored inside is retrieved, and then the door is manually closed.

In this way, there is an inconvenience in that the user must manually operate the door when receiving or withdrawing an item from a pickup box with a door.

Meanwhile, due to the recent pandemic of infectious diseases such as COVID-19, the whole world is attaching great importance to quarantine. In particular, it is known that infectious diseases such as COVID-19 are basically spread through droplet infection. Droplet infection is a method of infection when an infected person's saliva or nasal discharge enters the nose or mouth of another person. Infection can also occur through droplet infection through direct contact, and infection can also occur when an infected person's saliva or nasal discharge gets on an object and then another person touches the object.

Therefore, in recent years, people have become reluctant to directly receive items handed to them by others due to concerns about COVID-19 infection, so delivery companies, food delivery companies, and movie theaters that sell food are required to make efforts to minimize contact with recipients as much as possible. It is becoming.

Meanwhile, in order to improve the inconvenience caused by manual operation of the door as described above, research is being conducted to automatically open and close the door, and <Patent Document 1> below is also a technology previously proposed as part of these efforts.

<Patent Document 1> allows the EM Lock system to be managed and monitored remotely, making maintenance/repair of the EM Lock system easy, responding quickly to emergency situations, and having a button that directly turns off the power supplied to the locking main body. By being equipped, it has the advantage of dramatically reducing the possibility of problems such as an increase in the wiring section of the conventional EM lock system and an increase in the possibility of button signal errors.

However, this prior art also has the disadvantage that the door is opened by user contact (button operation), and when the door is closed after opening, there is no separate sterilization function, so germs caused by the user who took or placed the item are spread inside the main body. There is a disadvantage that contagion can occur.

Republic of Korea registered patent 10-2011265 (registered on 2019.08.09.) (EMLOCK System)

Therefore, the present invention was proposed to solve all the problems arising from the general pickup box and the prior art as described above, and provides convenience by automatically opening the door of the pickup box for storing and delivering goods in an unmanned place. The purpose is to provide a pickup box equipped with an automatic door opening and sterilization function and a control method thereof to prevent contagion due to bacterial infection by performing sterilization when the door is closed after withdrawing items.

Another object of the present invention is to automatically open and sterilize the door by automatically recognizing the user who wants to open the pickup box and opening the door so that the user can conveniently retrieve the items stored inside without touching the pickup box at all. To provide a pickup box equipped with a function and its control method.

In order to achieve the above-described object, the “pickup box with automatic door opening and sterilization function” according to the present invention,

An EM lock unit installed on the door frame of the main body with a space for accommodating items inside and having a door lock unit that opens or closes the door by magnetic force;

a door opening request unit that recognizes the opening of the door and generates a door opening request signal;

A door detection unit that detects door closure;

When door opening is requested by the door opening request unit, the magnetic force of the EM lock unit is released to automatically open the door, and when the door closing is detected by the door detection unit, the EM lock unit is driven to close the door with magnetic force. It is characterized in that it includes a control unit that.

In the above, the door opening request unit,

It is characterized by further including a door open button that generates a door open signal when operated by the user.

In the above, the door opening request unit,

a user information recognition unit that recognizes the user's terminal or tag and generates user information;

It further comprises a door open recognition unit that recognizes a door open request based on the door open signal of the door open button or the user information of the user information recognition unit, generates a door open request signal, and transmits it to the control unit.

In addition, the “pickup box with automatic door opening and sterilization function” according to the present invention,

The control unit counts the door open time and generates a sterilizer drive control signal to control the sterilizer drive through the sterilization time based on the counted door open time,

It further comprises a sterilizer driving unit that performs sterilization by driving a sterilizer installed inside the main body according to a sterilizer driving control signal generated by the control unit.

In the above, the control unit is characterized in that it controls the operating time of the sterilizer in proportion to the door opening time.

In addition, the “pickup box control method with automatic door opening and sterilization function” according to the present invention,

(a) checking whether a door opening request signal occurs while the door is locked;

(b) as a result of the confirmation in step (a), when a door opening request signal is generated, automatically opening the door by releasing the magnetic force of the door lock unit within the EM lock unit;

(c) Counting the door opening time when the door is opened:

(d) closing the door by causing the door lock to generate magnetic force when the door is recognized as being closed after opening the door;

(e) checking the door opening time counted after closing the door and determining the sterilization time according to the confirmed door opening time; and

(f) sterilizing the inside of the main body by operating the sterilizer according to the determined sterilization time.

In step (e) above,

The sterilization time of the sterilizer is determined in proportion to the door opening time.

According to the present invention, convenience is improved by automatically opening the door of a pickup box for storing and delivering goods in an unmanned location, and sterilization is performed when the door is closed after withdrawing the goods, thereby preventing contagion due to bacterial infection. There is an effect.

In addition, according to the present invention, there is an advantage in that the user can conveniently retrieve items contained within the pick-up box without having to touch the pick-up box at all by automatically recognizing the user who wants to open the pick-up box and opening the door.

1 is a perspective view of a pickup box equipped with an automatic door opening and sterilization function according to the present invention;
Figure 2 is a perspective view of the door of a pickup box equipped with an automatic door opening and sterilization function according to the present invention in an open state;
Figure 3 is a block diagram of a pickup box equipped with automatic door opening and sterilization functions according to the present invention;
Figure 4 is a flowchart showing a method of controlling a pickup box with automatic door opening and sterilization functions according to the present invention.

Hereinafter, a pickup box equipped with automatic door opening and sterilization functions and its control method according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings.

The terms or words used in the present invention described below should not be construed as limited to their usual or dictionary meanings, and the inventor may appropriately define the concept of the term in order to explain his/her invention in the best way. It must be interpreted with meaning and concept consistent with the technical idea of the present invention based on the principle that it can be done.

Therefore, the embodiments described in this specification and the configurations shown in the drawings are only preferred embodiments of the present invention and do not represent the entire technical idea of the present invention, and therefore various equivalents and It should be understood that variations may exist.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a pickup box 100 equipped with an automatic door opening and sterilization function according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 2 is a pickup box 100 equipped with an automatic door opening and sterilization function according to the present invention. This is a perspective view with the door open.

The pickup box 100 is provided with a main body 1 having a space therein to accommodate items. Here, the pickup box 100 refers to any type of product with a door that opens and closes, and may be, for example, a packaging box, an unmanned delivery box, an unmanned vending machine, or a pickup box provided at a movie theater or instant food store. In the present invention, for convenience of explanation, a box with a door that opens and closes and a space inside to accommodate items is collectively referred to as a pickup box.

A door 111 is provided on one side of the main body 1 to be rotatable. Here, at one end of the door 111, a door rotation means 111b is coupled to the main body 1 and capable of rotating the door 111. Here, the door rotation means 111b may include a hinge and an elastic means for opening the door by pushing the door 111 using elastic force based on the hinge axis. The elastic means can use various known elastic devices, and in the present invention, a spring with elastic force is explained as an example.

In addition, the upper end of the door 111 is coupled to the door lock 112 by the magnetic force of the door lock 112 mounted on the main body 1, or a coupling part that releases the magnetic coupling with the door lock 112 when the magnetic force is lost. (111a) is provided. The coupling portion 111a may be composed of an armature made of a ferromagnetic material that is coupled to the electromagnet by the magnetic force of the electromagnet.

In addition, on one side of the door frame 2 where the door 111 is coupled to the main body 1, a door lock unit includes an electromagnet that magnetically fixes the coupling part 111a provided on the door 111 or releases the fixing force. (112) is installed.

In addition, a sterilizer 151 to sterilize bacteria is installed at a predetermined location of the main body 1, for example, on the inner upper surface or the inner surface of the door frame 2. The sterilizer 151 can use various known sterilizing devices, and in the present invention, it is assumed that a UV lamp (LED) is used as an example.

Figure 3 is a configuration diagram of a "pickup box equipped with automatic door opening and sterilization function" according to the present invention, which includes an EM lock unit 110, a door opening request unit 130, a control unit 120, and a door detection unit 140. , may include a sterilizer driving unit 152 and a sterilizer 152.

Here, the EM lock unit 110 and the sterilizer 151 have the same configuration as the EM lock unit and sterilizer provided in FIGS. 1 and 2.

The EM lock unit 110 is installed on the door frame 2 of the main body 1 with a space for accommodating items inside, and opens or closes the door 111 with magnetic force. The door lock unit 112 ), and may include a door 111 provided with a coupling portion 111a.

The door opening request unit 130 recognizes the opening of the door 111, generates a door opening request signal, and transmits it to the control unit 120.

This door open request unit 130 includes a door open button 131 that generates a door open signal when operated by the user, a user information recognition unit 132 that recognizes the user's terminal or tag and generates user information, and a door open button 131 that generates a door open signal when operated by the user. A door open recognition unit ( 133) may be included.

The door detection unit 140 detects the closing of the door 111 and transmits a door closing detection signal to the control unit 120 when the door is closed. For this purpose, the door detection unit 140 uses a contact sensor such as a tact switch or push sensor that detects door closing through contact contact, or a non-contact sensor that detects door closing in a non-contact manner using magnetic or optical signals. You can.

When door opening is requested by the door opening request unit 130, the control unit 120 automatically opens the door 111 by releasing the magnetic force of the EM lock unit 110, and automatically opens the door 111 by the door detection unit 140. When the door is detected to be closed, the EM lock unit 110 is driven to control the door 111 to be closed by magnetic force. This control unit 120 can be implemented with a control device such as a controller, microcomputer, central processing unit, or microprocessor.

This control unit 120 counts the door opening time when the door is opened and generates a sterilizer driving control signal that controls the sterilization time based on the counted door opening time. Here, the sterilizer operation time can be set proportionally to the door opening time.

The sterilizer drive unit 152 serves to perform sterilization by driving the sterilizer 151 installed inside the main body 1 according to the sterilizer drive control signal generated from the control unit 120.

In addition, although not shown in the drawings of the present invention, a power supply unit is provided that supplies power for driving the electromagnet and supplies driving power to parts of the pickup box that require power.

Figure 4 is a flowchart showing the "pickup box control method with automatic door opening and sterilization function" according to the present invention, which includes (a) checking whether a door opening request signal is generated while the door 111 is locked ( S101 - S102), (b) as a result of confirmation in step (a), when a door opening request signal is generated, automatically opening the door 111 by releasing the magnetic force of the door lock unit 112 in the EM lock unit 110 ( S103 - S104), (c) counting the door opening time when the door is opened (S105), (d) when the door is recognized as being closed after opening the door, causing the door lock unit 112 to generate magnetic force to close the door. (S106 - S107), (e) checking the door opening time counted after closing the door, and determining the sterilization time according to the confirmed door opening time (S108 - S109), and (f) the determined sterilization time It includes the step of sterilizing the inside of the main body by operating the sterilizer 151 (S110 - S111).

The "pickup box equipped with automatic door opening and sterilization functions and its control method" according to the present invention configured as described above will be described in detail as follows.

First, the driving power is supplied by the power supply of the pickup box 100, and the door 111 is opened with an object accommodated inside the main body 1, and the door lock unit 112 of the EM lock unit 110 opens the door by magnetic force ( It is assumed that the door 111 is locked by binding the coupling portion 111a of 111 (S101).

In a state where the door 111 is locked, in order for the user to open the door 111 and retrieve the object contained in the main body 1, the user turns on the door open button 131 installed at a random location on the outer surface of the main body 1. Press the status button.

When the door open button 131 is operated in the on state, the door open button 131 generates a door open signal, which is an electrical signal, and transmits it to the door open recognition unit 133. When a door open signal is transmitted by the door open button 131, the door open recognition unit 133 determines that the user requests the door to be opened, and generates a door open request signal requesting the door open to the control unit 120. deliver it to

This method of requesting door opening using the door open button 131 may cause inconvenience and hygiene problems by requiring the user to touch the door open button 131 and operate the door open button 131. You can.

Therefore, it is possible to use the door open button 131 as described above. Alternatively, if the user registers the information of the user terminal in advance or carries a tag for user recognition and approaches the pick-up box 100, the device automatically opens the door. The user information recognition unit 132 recognizes user information through communication with the user terminal or recognizes user information by reading a tag. Here, there may be cases where the user passes near the pickup box 100 without actually using the pickup box 100, so in order to accurately determine the user's intention to use the pickup box, the recognition duration of the user terminal or recognition of the tag It is desirable to accurately determine the user's intention to use the pickup box by using the duration. In other words, only when the user stays in the pickup box for a certain period of time is the intention to use the pickup box recognized and user recognition information is generated. Bluetooth can be used to communicate with the user terminal.

The user recognition information generated by the user information recognition unit 132 is transmitted to the door open recognition unit 133. When the user recognition information is transmitted, the door open recognition unit 133 determines that the user requests to open the door, A door opening request signal requesting door opening is generated and transmitted to the control unit 120.

The control unit 120 checks whether the door opening request signal is generated while the door 111 is locked, and when the door opening request signal is generated (S102), the magnetic force of the door lock unit 112 in the EM lock unit 110 is activated. Release it to automatically open the door 111 (S103 - S104). For example, the power supplied to the door lock unit 112 of the EM lock unit 112 is cut off so that the electromagnet of the door lock unit 112 loses its magnetic force. When the electromagnet loses its magnetic force, the power to pull the armature 111a of the coupling portion 111a provided on the door 111 is lost. At this time, the door 111 moves forward and opens automatically due to the elastic force of the elastic means 111b provided at one end of the door 111. Here, since the opening speed of the door 111 can be adjusted according to the elastic force of the elastic means 111b, it is preferable to use the elastic means 111b having an appropriate elastic force.

When the door 111 is automatically opened, the user withdraws the object stored inside the main body 1.

Next, the control unit 120 counts the door opening time when the door is opened using an internal counter (S105).

When the user closes the door 111 after withdrawing the item stored inside, that is, when the coupling part 111a contacts the door lock 112, the door detection unit 140 detects the door closed state and detects the door closing. A signal is transmitted to the control unit 120.

When the control unit 120 recognizes that the door is closed after opening the door, it supplies electromagnet driving power to the door lock unit 112 to generate magnetic force again and closes the door 111 (S106 - S107).

When the door is closed, the counting operation of the counter ends, and the door opening time counted after the door is closed is checked (S108). Next, the sterilization time is determined according to the confirmed door opening time (S109). Here, the sterilization time can be set proportional to the door opening time. In other words, if the door opening time is long, the sterilization time is determined to be relatively long, and if the door opening time is short, the sterilization time is also determined to be relatively short. For this purpose, it is preferable that the control unit 120 stores a sterilization time determination table according to the door opening time in the internal memory and uses this table. In other words, the longer the door opening time, the higher the probability that the amount of bacteria entering the inside of the main body will increase, so set the sterilization time longer. If the door opening time is short, the amount of bacteria entering the inside of the main body will decrease. Because the probability is high, set the sterilization time short.

The control unit 120 transmits a sterilizer drive control signal to the sterilizer drive unit 152 according to the determined sterilization time. The sterilizer drive unit 152 drives the sterilizer 151 in response to the received sterilizer drive control signal to sterilize the inside of the main body (S110 - S111). In other words, bacteria introduced into the body are sterilized by UV using a UV LED lamp.

As described above, according to the present invention, convenience is promoted by automatically opening the door of the pickup box for storing and delivering goods in an unmanned location, and when the door is closed after withdrawing the goods, sterilization is performed to prevent bacterial infection. Contagious diseases can be prevented.

In addition, according to the present invention, by automatically recognizing the user who wants to open the pickup box and opening the door, the user can conveniently retrieve the items contained therein without touching the pickup box at all.

Although the invention made by the present inventor has been described in detail according to the above embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various changes can be made without departing from the gist of the invention, as is known in the art. It is self-evident to those who have.

1: Body
2: Door frame
100: Pick-up box
110: EM Rock Department
111: door
112: Door lock unit
120: control unit
130: Door opening request unit
131: Door open button
132: User information recognition unit
133: Door open recognition unit
140: Door detection unit
151: Sterilizer
152: Sterilizer driving unit

Claims (7)

An EM lock unit installed on the door frame of the main body with a space for accommodating items inside and having a door lock unit that opens or closes the door by magnetic force;
a door opening request unit that recognizes the opening of the door and generates a door opening request signal;
A door detection unit that detects door closure; and
When door opening is requested by the door opening request unit, the magnetic force of the EM lock unit is released to automatically open the door, and when the door closing is detected by the door detection unit, the EM lock unit is driven to close the door with magnetic force. It includes a control unit that does,
The door opening request unit,
a user information recognition unit that recognizes the user's terminal or tag and generates user information;
A door open recognition unit that recognizes a door open request based on the user information of the user information recognition unit, generates a door open request signal, and transmits it to the control unit,
The control unit registers information on the user terminal or a tag for user recognition in advance, and when the user terminal or tag approaches, recognizes user information through the user information recognition unit,
The user information recognition unit accurately determines the user's intention to use the pickup box using the recognition duration of the user terminal or the recognition duration of the tag, and then, if it is determined that the pickup box is being used, sends the user recognition information to the door open recognition unit. Delivering,
A pickup box equipped with an automatic door opening and sterilization function, wherein the control unit determines the sterilization time, which is the operating time of the sterilizer, in proportion to the door opening time.
In claim 1, the door opening request unit,
A pickup box with automatic door opening and sterilization functions, characterized by including a door open button that generates a door open signal when operated by the user.
delete In claim 1, the control unit counts the door open time and generates a sterilizer drive control signal to control the sterilizer drive through the sterilization time based on the counted door open time,
A pickup box with an automatic door opening and sterilization function, further comprising a sterilizer driving unit that performs sterilization by driving a sterilizer installed inside the main body according to a sterilizer drive control signal generated from the control unit.
delete A method of controlling a pickup box equipped with an automatic door opening and sterilization function according to any one of claims 1, 2, and 4, comprising:
(a) checking whether a door opening request signal occurs while the door is locked;
(b) as a result of the confirmation in step (a), when a door opening request signal is generated, automatically opening the door by releasing the magnetic force of the door lock unit within the EM lock unit;
(c) Counting the door opening time when the door is opened:
(d) closing the door by causing the door lock to generate magnetic force when the door is recognized as being closed after opening the door;
(e) checking the door opening time counted after closing the door and determining the sterilization time according to the confirmed door opening time; and
(f) sterilizing the inside of the main body by operating the sterilizer according to the determined sterilization time,
In step (e),
Determining the sterilization time of the sterilizer in proportion to the door opening time,
In step (a), information on the user terminal or a tag for user recognition is registered in advance, and when the user terminal or the tag approaches, the user information is recognized through the user information recognition unit, and the recognition duration of the user terminal or A pickup equipped with an automatic door opening and sterilization function, which uses the recognition duration of the tag to accurately determine the user's intention to use the pickup box, and then determines that a door opening request signal has occurred when it is determined that the pickup box has been used. Box control method.
delete

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