Patent Application
20210217260
The present disclosure relates to a method for unlocking a fingerprint recognition lock, and a zipper lock with fingerprint recognition, wherein a fingerprint collection/recognition module is installed onto a movable locking plate, and a power supply module is installed in a lock box, and if a user presses the movable locking plate, the power supply module in the lock box will start supply power to the movable locking plate to perform a fingerprint collection or recognition, so as to achieve the effects of saving power and reducing the volume of the fingerprint recognition lock.
In general, an object such as a suitcase, a briefcase, etc. comes with a zipper to prevent others from opening the objects at will, and a zipper lock is usually installed at an end of the zipper and a password or a key is provided for opening a lock box, so that after a zipper head zips up the zipper, a zipper plate of the zipper head can be locked by the lock box to achieve an anti-theft function and improve security.
With the advancement of science and technology, locks are also developed in a form of using fingerprint to unlock the locks, and a general fingerprint lock includes components such as a fingerprint reader, an electric lock, a battery, and a microprocessor, and these components are usually installed onto the lock box, so that the lock box installed on a surface of the object will occupy a specific volume and look less aesthetic. In addition, the power supply of the fingerprint lock must be maintained at a standby mode in order to supply power continuously, so that users can use the fingerprint reader anytime to unlock the fingerprint lock. However, the users may fall in an embarrassing situation of unable to unlock the fingerprint lock due to insufficient power.
In related prior arts, P.R.C. Pat. No. CN206822136U has disclosed a fingerprint lock having a fingerprint reader installed on a zipper plate, and there are two zipper plates, and one of the zipper plates has a fingerprint lock and a locking element installed thereon, and after the two zipper plates move towards each other, the zipper plate having the fingerprint lock can be locked onto the other zipper plate to achieve an anti-theft function. However, the zipper plate has the fingerprint reader, microprocessor, locking element, and battery installed thereon, so that the total volume becomes larger and the operation becomes inconvenient. On the other hand, the battery has to supply power to the fingerprint reader and the microprocessor installed on the zipper plate continuously in order to maintain the standby mode, and thus the issue of fast power consumption issue still cannot be solved.
Further, P.R.C. Pat. No. CN205884952U has disclosed another fingerprint lock having a fingerprint recognition plate installed onto a zipper plate, and components such as a fingerprint comparator, a battery, and a memory are installed on a purse, so as to achieve the anti-theft function. Although the fingerprint recognition plate is installed separately from the fingerprint comparator and the battery in this patented technology, the fingerprint recognition plate installed on the zipper plate has to use a conductive wire to electrically connect the battery and the fingerprint comparator in the purse in order to obtain electric power, so that when the zipper plate is moving along the zipper, the conductive wire will move with the zipper plate. As a result, the overall product assembling process becomes more complicated, and the cost becomes higher. Furthermore, the conductive wire may be broken or damaged easily, and this patented technology still cannot overcome the problem of supplying power to the battery continuously and improving the issue of fast power consumption.
In view of the aforementioned drawbacks regarding to the volume and power supply of the conventional fingerprint recognition, this disclosure provides a method for unlocking a fingerprint recognition lock, characterized in that the fingerprint recognition lock comprises a lock box with a locking hook and a movable locking plate detachably stacked on and locked by the lock box, wherein the lock box has a push switch abutting against the movable locking plate, and a power supply module, and the movable locking plate has a fingerprint collection module or a fingerprint reader, and if the movable locking plate is stacked on and locked by the lock box, the movable locking plate will be electrically coupled to the lock box, and if a user presses the movable locking plate to conduct the push switch of the lock box, the power supply module of the lock box will supply power to the movable locking plate to perform a fingerprint collection or fingerprint recognition to unlock the fingerprint recognition lock. This disclosure can achieve the effects of reducing the volume of the movable locking plate and saving power.
This disclosure further provides a zipper lock with fingerprint recognition, and the zipper lock being installed to an object that uses a zipper to zip up and unzip the object, and comprising a movable locking plate and a lock box disposed at one of the ends of the zipper, and the movable locking plate being coupled to a zipper head that controls zipping and unzipping the zipper, and if the zipper head zips up the zipper, the movable locking plate will be detachably stacked on and locked by the lock box, wherein the movable locking plate has an inner side and an outer side, and a fingerprint collection module or a fingerprint reader is installed on the outer sides, and a contact terminal is installed on the inner side and electrically coupled to the fingerprint collection module or fingerprint reader, and a locking hole is provided for locking the lock box; the lock box has an outer surface, and a positioning portion is disposed on the outer surface and stacked on the inner side of the movable locking plate, and an elastic terminal is installed onto the positioning portion and contacted with the contact terminal of the movable locking plate, and a push switch abuts against the inner side of the movable locking plate inner side, and a locking hook is provided for locking into the locking hole; the lock box comprises a microprocessor installed therein for receiving a signal from the fingerprint collection module or the fingerprint reader through the contact of the contact terminal with the elastic terminal, a drive unit for receiving an instruction from the microprocessor to control the locking hook to unlock the zipper lock, and a power supply module electrically coupled to the elastic terminal and the push switch; thereby after the movable locking plate is pressed, the push switch will be conducted to drive the power supply module to start supplying electric power to the fingerprint collection module or the fingerprint reader of the movable locking plate through the elastic terminal and the contact terminal in order to perform a fingerprint collection or recognition, and then a signal is transmitted through the contact terminal and the elastic terminal to the microprocessor, and the microprocessor controls the drive unit to drive the locking hook to detach from the locking hole in order to unlock the zipper lock.
In an embodiment, the fingerprint collection module sends out a fingerprint feature data signal after collecting a fingerprint, and the microprocessor performs comparison and recognition after receiving the fingerprint feature data signal, and if the fingerprint is recognized as a correct fingerprint, the microprocessor will control the drive unit to drive the locking hook to unlock the zipper lock.
Alternatively, the fingerprint reader sends out an unlock signal after collecting a fingerprint and comparing and recognizing the collected fingerprint as the correct fingerprint, and the microprocessor controls the drive unit to drive the locking hook to unlock the zipper lock after receiving the unlock signal.
Compared with the prior art, this disclosure integrates the fingerprint collection/recognition function into the movable locking plate and integrates the power supply function into the lock box, and if it is necessary to collect/recognize a fingerprint, the push switch installed on the lock box will trigger the power supply module to start supplying power. This disclosure has the effects of reducing the volume of the fingerprint recognition zipper lock and saving power.
The present disclosure will become clearer in light of the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment of this disclosure described in connection with the drawings, so that people having ordinary skill in the art can implement the present disclosure according to the description of this specification.
With reference to
The push switch 10 is normally maintained at a disconnection status to save power. When the movable locking plate 200 is stacked on the lock box 100 and locked by the lock box 100, the movable locking plate 200 and the lock box 100 are electrically coupled to each other. If a user presses the fingerprint collection module 30 or the fingerprint reader 40 of the movable locking plate 200, the user will also press the push switch 10 at the same time to achieve an electric conduction, so that the lock box 100 will start supplying power to the movable locking plate 200 to perform the fingerprint collection or fingerprint recognition in order to unlock the fingerprint recognition lock.
In an embodiment as shown in the figures, the fingerprint recognition lock is a zipper lock as shown in
In the zipper lock with fingerprint recognition of this embodiment, the lock box 100 is installed at one of the ends of the zipper 300, and the movable locking plate 200 is coupled to a zipper head 301 that controls zipping and unzipping the zipper 300. When the zipper head 301 zips up the zipper 300, the movable locking plate 200 is detachably stacked on and locked to the lock box 100. In
The lock box 100 has an outer surface 101, and the outer surface 101 has a positioning portion 102 stacked on the inner side 201 of the movable locking plate 200, wherein the positioning portion 102 is substantially in the same grooved shape as the outer contour of the movable locking plate 200, and the positioning portion 102 comprises the push switch 10 installed at the bottom thereof, an elastic terminal 51 capable of contacting the contact terminal 50 of the movable locking plate 200, and a locking hook 61 capable of locking into the locking hole 60. When the inner side 201 of the movable locking plate 200 is stacked on the grooved positioning portion 102, the push switch 10 abuts against the inner side 201 of the movable locking plate 200, and the outer side 202 of the movable locking plate 200 is substantially aligned precisely with the outer surface 101 of the lock box 100 to minimize the possibility of being collided by the movable locking plate 200.
The lock box 100 has a microprocessor 70 installed therein, a drive unit 62 for receiving an instruction of the microprocessor 70 to control the locking hook 61 to unlock the zipper lock, and also control the power supply module 20, wherein the power supply module 20 is electrically coupled to the elastic terminal 51, the push switch 10, the microprocessor 70 and the drive unit 62. After the push switch 10 is pressed, the power supply module 20 starts supplying power.
If the movable locking plate 200 is stacked on the positioning portion 102 of the lock box 100, so that the locking hole 60 is locked by the locking hook 61, the contact terminal 50 of the movable locking plate 200 will be electrically coupled to the elastic terminal 51 of the lock box 100.
In an embodiment, the locking hole 60 of the movable locking plate 200 is locked by the locking hook 61 of the lock box 100. With such arrangement, a user can press the push switch 10 while stacking the movable locking plate 200 on the positioning portion 102 of the lock box 100, so that the push switch 10 can be electrically conducted to drive the power supply module 20 to start supplying power. The microprocessor 70 controls the drive unit 62 to drive the locking hook 61 to move and lock the zipper lock. After the zipper lock is locked, the elastic terminal 51 or the push switch 10 maintains its resilience and abuts the inner side 201 of the movable locking plate 200 and resumes the push switch 10 to the original disconnection status, and the power supply module 20 will stop supplying power, and the locked status will be maintained.
In another embodiment, a general automatically resettable locking hook 61 is used, wherein the locking hook 61 is often abutted by an elastic element (not shown in the figure) and maintained at a locked position. When the movable locking plate 200 is stacked on the lock box 100, the locking hook 61 is pushed and squeezed for a displacement, and the locking hook 61 is abutted by the elastic element to restore its original position and automatically locked into the locking hole 60, so that the zipper lock can be locked without requiring any electric power. Similarly, the push switch 10 still maintains its disconnection status after the zipper lock is locked.
In order to align the locking hook 61 precisely with the locking hole 60 in an embodiment, a positioning column 80 and a positioning hole 81 are designed between the inner side 201 of the movable locking plate 200 and the positioning portion 102 and configured to be relative to each other, so as to assist the user to stack the movable locking plate 200 onto the positioning portion 102 of the lock box 100 accurately.
In
In addition, the elastic terminal 51 can release the elastic force when the locking hook 61 is separated from the locking hole 60, so that the movable locking plate 200 can bounce from the positioning portion 102 of the lock box 100 to facilitate the user to apply force to the movable locking plate 200 in order to unzip the zipper. In an embodiment, an injector is installed between the inner side of the movable locking plate and the positioning portion of the lock box for assisting the detachment of the positioning portion after the movable locking plate unlocks the zipper lock, and this is one of the feasible solutions.
By the aforementioned method and structure of this disclosure, the fingerprint collection/recognition function is integrated with the movable locking plate 200, and the power supply function is integrated with the lock box 100. When it is necessary to collect/recognize a fingerprint, the push switch 10 installed on the lock box 100 triggers the power supply module 20 to start supplying power, so as to achieve the effects of saving power and reducing the volume of the fingerprint recognition zipper lock.
As described above, the movable locking plate 200 has the fingerprint collection module 30 or the fingerprint reader 40 installed thereon, and these two embodiments are slightly different in the unlocking process. In the embodiment of installing the movable locking plate 200 onto the fingerprint collection module 30, when the fingerprint collection module 30 sends out a fingerprint characteristic data signal to the lock box 100 through the elastic terminal 51 and contact terminal 50 after collecting a fingerprint, so that the microprocessor 70 of the lock box 100 can receive the fingerprint feature data signal for comparison and recognition. After a correct fingerprint is recognized, the microprocessor 70 controls the drive unit 62 to drive the locking hook 61 to unlock the zipper lock.
If the movable locking plate 200 is installed on the fingerprint reader 40, the fingerprint reader 40 is used directly for collecting and recognizing the fingerprint during the process of unlocking the zipper lock. After the fingerprint reader 40 recognizes the correct fingerprint, an unlock signal is sent out and transmitted through the elastic terminal 51 and the contact terminal 50 to the lock box 100. After the microprocessor 70 of the lock box 100 receives the unlock signal, the microprocessor 70 controls the drive unit 62 to drive the locking hook 61 to unlock the zipper lock.
In
In
In an embodiment as shown in
Based on the description above, there are two ways of either installing the fingerprint collection module 30 or the fingerprint reader 40 on the movable locking plate 200. When the user presses the movable locking plate 200, the push switch 10 is turned on to drive the power supply module 20 to start supplying power, and then the user continues to press the fingerprint setting key 90, so that the fingerprint collection module 30 can collect the fingerprint characteristics which are sent and stored to the memory of the microprocessor 70 of the lock box 100 through the elastic terminal 51 and the contact terminal 50. If the fingerprint reader 40 is installed on the movable locking plate 200, then the fingerprint reader 40 will save the new fingerprint into its memory.
While the present disclosure has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of this disclosure set forth in the claims.
