WO2001043091A1

WO2001043091A1 - Safety container for goods delivery system

Info

Publication number: WO2001043091A1
Application number: PCT/EP2000/011421
Authority: WO
Inventors: Claudio Cenedese
Original assignee: Electrolux Zanussi Elettrodomestici SpA; Electrolux Zanussi SpA
Current assignee: Electrolux Zanussi Elettrodomestici SpA; Electrolux Zanussi SpA
Priority date: 1999-12-06
Filing date: 2000-11-17
Publication date: 2001-06-14
Anticipated expiration: 2002-06-06
Also published as: IT1311725B1; ITPN990091A1; ITPN990091A0

Abstract

The safety container comprises a casing (5) having compartments (8-10) adapted to hold goods and accessible through a door (6) provided with a door lock (7, 7') of the code-actuated type adapted to be unlocked by driving an interface (12) with a primary access code and a programmable auxiliary access code. Control means (11, 15) are provided to disable said auxiliary access code in response to said door (6) being shut and/or said door lock (7, 7') being locked.

Description

SAFETY CONTAINER FOR GOODS DELIVERY SYSTEM

DESCRIPTION

The present invention refers to a safety container particularly adapted to be used in connection with a goods distribution and delivery system organized in accordance with the so-called "electronic commerce" or online shopping concept.

As generally well-known, the so-called electronic commerce, ie. the possibility of making purchases of goods remotely, eg. from home, without any need to physically go to a shop or point of sale, is strongly expanding currently thanks to the development of telecommunication systems, and applies indifferently to both immaterial (eg. software, data and documents) and material merchandise, ie. marketable goods.

Very important and complex is in this connection the electronic commerce of material marketable goods, in particular foodstuffs, which takes substantially place between a sale or merchandising organization 1 and a customer or buyer 2 through a sequence of successive phases, or transactions, as illustrated diagrammatically in Figure 1, ie.:

- the transaction A-B consists of a merchandising service offering goods for sale, eg. through Web-pages on the Internet; - the transaction C-D is carried out by formally drawing up and sending in an order, eg. by telematics, and paying for the ordered goods with the credit card;

- the transaction E-F calls for the sale organization 1 to see that the ordered goods is delivered to the customer 2 via an appropriate delivery channel, such as a courier 3 or a postal service 4. This transaction usually takes a relatively long time, even up to some weeks, to be completed. In particular, it may quite easily occur that, in the case of absence of the customer at the given delivery address, the ordered goods cannot be delivered and must therefore dwell for some time at some place along the distribution chain, eg. at a post office or similar facility.

As it can be readily inferred, the phase E-F involving the delivery of the goods to the customer, or purchaser, represents the so-called weak link of the distribution chain currently, in particular when foodstuffs are involved. As a matter of fact, the food selling or marketing sector distinguishes itself from other sectors by a number of peculiar factors, such as

- high purchase frequency,

- need for as short delivery terms or delays as possible, - relatively high space requirements generally posed by the goods

- perishable nature of the goods, which are quite often subject to rapid decay.

On the other hand, it in practice turns generally out as being particularly difficult, constraining and expensive to establish a precise scheme of appointments enabling the distributor of the goods to unfailingly meet with the purchaser or final customer.

Furthermore, especially in the case of goods comprising perishable and or relatively bulky products, a delivery concept of the "post-office box" type is practically unproposable, ie. out of question.

It therefore is a main purpose of the present invention to provide a safety container for a goods delivery system, which enables the same goods delivery system to be rationalized and be made less expensive and demanding.

In particular, it is a purpose of the present invention to provide a safety container of the above cited kind, which enables various distributors to deliver the goods at the purchaser's domicile without any problem deriving from the risk of intrusion by unauthorized people, even if the customer actually happens to be away from home.

It is a further purpose of the present invention to provide a safety container of the above cited kind, which enables the distributors to deliver perishable goods in a safe and satisfactory manner even in the case of the purchaser not being at home.

According to the present invention, these and further aims are reached in a safety container for goods delivery systems, which embodies the characteristics as recited in the appended claims.

The features and advantages of the present invention will anyway be more readily and clearly understood from the description that is given below by way of non-limiting example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

- Figure 1 is a diagrammatical view of the afore mentioned sequence of phases in which electronic commerce of goods usually takes place according to prior-art techniques;

- Figure 2 is a diagrammatical view of a preferred embodiment of the safety container according to the present invention;

- Figure 3 is a diagrammatical view of a preferred embodiment of a detail of the container illustrated in Figure 2;

- Figure 4 is a diagrammatical view of the sequence of phases shown in Figure 1 , however referred to the case in which a safety container according to the present invention is introduced in the system. With particular reference to Figure 2, the container according to the present invention can be noticed to comprise a casing 5 that has at least a compartment adapted to receive and store goods and accessible through at least a door 6 provided with locking means schematically indicated at 7, 7'. The casing 5 has preferably a robust structure and can be appropriately installed in any place that most fittingly suits the particular use or application; in a preferred manner it is mounted and secured to the floor or a wall, for example close to the entrance of the house of the customer 2.

In the example which is described below, the container is shown to comprise three distinct compartments 8, 9, 10, each one of which may be provided even with a closing lid or door of its own.

The door lock 7, 7' is of the per-se known code-actuated type, ie. it is adapted to be released by driving associated interface means with the use of a primary access code, which in a preferred manner is known solely to the customer 2.

The interface is preferably accessible on the front side or panel of the casing 5 and, in principle, it may most simply comprise some combination and dialling mechanism. In practice, however, such an interface is adapted to drive an electronic control device 11 (which is best illustrated in Figure 3) and preferably comprises a keyboard 12 or the like.

The control device 11 is preferably of the type based on a microcontroller (which may for instance be of the Motorola 6805 type); it is also associated to a display 13 adapted to enable various operational states and conditions to be checked visually, and has an input 14 that is driven by a sensor 15 adapted to detect a shut condition of the door 6 and/or a locked condition of the door lock 7, 7'. In a preferred manner, such a sensor 15 simply comprises a micro-switch adapted to drive the input 14 of the controller 11 with a signal that is representative of the shut or opened condition of the door 6. A control output 16 of the controller 11 is connected to a corresponding control input of the door lock 7. In a per-se known manner, when the above cited primary access code is dialled on the keyboard 12, the controller 11 is prearranged so as to generate, at the output 16, a control signal that causes the door lock 7, T to be released, ie. unlocked.

According to a feature of the present invention, the controller 11 is arranged so as to be able to also generate the above cited control signal at the output 16 when at least a programmable auxiliary access code is formed on the keyboard 12. For example, said auxiliary access code may be programmed in the controller 11 by the customer 2 through a personal computer 17, or the like, which is connected to the controller 11 via a two-way connection 21 According to the actual needs or requirements, the latter may be implemented either m the form of a cable or in the form of a wireless communication line via transceivmg means.

According to the present invention, control means comprising substantially the same controller 11 and the associated sensor 15 are further provided to disable said auxiliary access code in response to the door 6 being shut and/or the door lock 7, 7' being locked. In particular, when the door 6 is closed (and/or when the door lock 7, 7' is locked) the sensor 15 is arranged to dπve the input 14 of the controller 11 with a corresponding signal, in response to which the controller 11 is arranged to disable the formerly programmed auxiliary access code.

If desired, such a disabling command may be interlinked with, ie be made subservient to the actuation of consent means, in which said actuation may for instance be earned out by pushing an appropnately provided key 20 on the keyboard 12.

In a preferred manner, in response to the door 6 being shut and/or the door lock 7, 7' being locked, ie. when the sensor 15 dnves the input 14 of the controller 11 with the above cited signal, the controller itself is also adapted to trigger indicating means, for instance by driving the display 13 so as to display a corresponding coded indication, possibly in a flashing manner. As an alternative or in addition thereto, said indication may be performed by the controller 11 by driving the personal computer 17, which will therefore display in an appropriate manner the indication concerning the door 6 being locked and the presence of goods in the container.

In an alternative embodiment, one or more of the compartments 8, 9, 10 may be provided with weight sensors, presence sensors or other per se known (and not shown) equivalent sensors adapted to suitably trigger or actuate said indication means, via the controller 11, in response to goods being introduced and stored in said compartments.

It will be of course appreciated that such a triggering or actuation of the indication means 13 and/or 17 may be subordinated to the actuation of the consent means 20.

In any case, the container according to the present invention differs from, say, such pnor-art systems as the ones based on safes or similar receptacles (which enable a user to only gain access to them through the use of two or more keys at the same time) mainly for the fact that opening the door 6 can occur selectively either with the use of the primary access code or with the use of the auxiliary access code, the latter being annulled automatically upon the door 6 being shut again. This enables the container 5 to be advantageously used as described in greater detail further on.

According to another important feature of the present invention, at least one of the compartments 8, 9, 10 is adapted to be thermally conditioned and, in a preferred manner, the same compartments are adapted to be thermally conditioned to respective pre-determined temperatures.

In the preferred example of embodiment that is being described, the compartment 10 is kept at ambient temperature, the compartment 9 is cooled down to an average refrigerated storage temperature (approx +6°C), whereas the compartment 8 is cooled down to an average deep-freezing temperature (approx. from -18°C to -24°C) To this end, the compartments 8 and 9 comprise for instance respective evaporators 18, 19 of a refrigerating circuit of the substantially per se known type including also a compressor 22 and a condenser 23.

Again in a per se known manner, the compressor 22 is preferably controlled by an output 24 of the controller 11 through an alternating sequence of oOn and off cycles, ie energizations and de-energizations, so as to keep said compartments 8 and 9 at their respective pre-set average storage temperatures, as controlled by respective temperature sensors 25, 26, in which these sensors are adapted to detect the temperature m the respective compartments 8, 9 and to drive respective inputs 27, 28 of the controller 11 with corresponding signals.

With reference also to Figure 4, a preferred manner is now described, in which the safety container according to the present invention may be used

The door 6 of the container is normally shut In response to the offer or proposal that constitutes the afore mentioned transaction A-B, the customer 2 goes on to the afore mentioned transaction C-D by drawing up or sending in a formal order of goods, for instance telemaucally via the computer 17 Along with such an order, the customer confidentially communicates to the sales organization 1 a set of data which also include an auxiliary access code that has been programmed in advance by the same customer

In response to such an order, the sales organization 1 plans and carries out the afore cited transaction E-F, by letting the ordered goods be delivered, possibly through such a distribution channel as a courier 3 or a mail service 4, at the address corresponding to the safety container 5

The person who is charged with the delivery of the goods inputs the auxiliary- access code through the keyboard 12, so that the controller 11 generates, at its output 16, the afore cited actuation signal that causes the door lock 7, 7' to be unlocked. The door 6 of the casing 5 can therefore be opened and the ordered goods can be introduced in the compartments 8-10, in accordance with the respective storage characteristics and requirements.

Upon having so completed the delivery, the deliverer can shut again the door 6 and the door lock 7, 7' is locked again. This operational condition is detected by the micro-switch 15 which, possibly upon preliminary actuation of the consent key or button 20, drives the input 14 of the controller 11 with a corresponding signal, in response to which the same controller disables the previously programmed auxiliary access code. As a result, from this moment on it is again the customer 2 who is solely able to gain access into the safety container.

The goods that are so introduced in the compartments 8-10 can be kept stored there even for a prolonged period of time thanks to the respective thermal conditioning of the same compartments .

In any case, in response to the signal generated by the sensor 15, the controller 11 drives the display 13 and/or the computer 17 so as to inform the customer about the delivery having been so made. At this point, the customer 2 can therefore gain access into the safety container 5, in view of collecting the so delivered goods, by inputting through the keyboard 12 the primary access code which is solely known to him/her. In order to carry out a new similar sequence of transactions, the customer 2 may of course program a different auxiliary access code.

Conclusively, as best illustrated in Figure 4, the use of the safety container according to the present invention introduces in the chain of transactions between the sales organization 1 and the customer 2 an interface that enables both parties to manage the order and the delivery of the goods in a safe and optimised manner, without any particular logistic constraints or problems connected to the preservation of easily perishable products .

It will of course be appreciated that the above described safety container and/or the use thereof may be the subject of a number of modifications without departing from the scope of the present invention.

For instance, the thermal conditioning of at least one of the compartments 8-10 may include the heating, instead of the cooling thereof.

Moreover, to energy saving purposes the controller 11 may be arranged so as to start the operation of the compressor 22 in a time-controlled manner, ie. only when said compartments 8-10 actually require thermal conditioning. To this purpose, the controller 11 may be easily arranged by anyone skilled in the art, in accordance with and on the basis of the functional characteristics of the whole container 5 and the operating temperatures that are programmed to prevail in the thermally conditioned compartments 8, 9, 10 thereof, to start the compressor 22 with such a delay, with respect to the moment at which the customer 2 carries out the transaction C-D, as to bring said compartments to their respectively programmed temperatures at the moment in which the delivery of the ordered is expected to take place. For instance, the information concerning the moment at which the delivery of the ordered goods is expected to take place may be communicated to the controller 11 through the computer 17 via the line 21.

Claims

1. Safety container for a goods delivery system, comprising a casing having at least a compartment adapted to hold said goods and accessible through at least a door provided with a door lock of the code-actuated type adapted to be unlocked by driving interface means with a primary access code, characterized in that said door lock (7, 7') is adapted to be unlocked by also driving said interface means (12) with at least a programmable auxiliary access code, control means (11 , 15) being provided to disable said auxiliary access code in response to said door (6) being shut and/or said door lock (7, 7') being locked.

2. Safety container according to claim 1 , characterized in that said control means (11, 15) are adapted to disable said auxiliary access code upon actuation of consent means (20).

3. Safety container according to claim 1 , characterized in that said compartment (8; 9; 10) is adapted to be thermally conditioned.

4. Safety container according to claim 1, characterized in that the casing (5) comprises a plurality of said compartments (8-10) adapted to be thermally conditioned to respective pre-set storage temperatures.

5. Safety container according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises indicator means (13; 17) adapted to be operated in response to said door (6) being shut and/or said door lock (7, 7') being locked.

6. Safety container according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises indicator means (13; 17) adapted to be operated in response to goods being inserted in said compartment (8-10).

7. Safety container according to claim 2, characterized in that it comprises indicator means (13; 17) adapted to be operated in response to said consent means

(20) being actuated.

8. Safety container according to claim 3, characterized in that said compartment (8-10) is adapted to be thermally conditioned in a time-controlled manner capable of being programmed through said control means (11).