Electric lock control method, electric lock control system, and non-transitory computer-readable recording medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12223785-B2
Application number	US-202318218807-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 6, 2023
Priority date	Jan 20, 2021
Publication date	Feb 11, 2025
Grant date	Feb 11, 2025

Abstract

An electric lock control method includes: performing a first determination of whether a person is present in a predetermined region surrounding an electric lock, based on first information generated by an electronic device; when it is determined that a first person is present in the predetermined region in the performing of the first determination, performing a second determination of whether the first person is a person who is permitted to unlock the electric lock, based on second information related to movement of the first person; and controlling a state of the electric lock based on a result of the second determination, the state being a locked state or an unlocked state.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An electric lock control method comprising:
performing a first determination of whether a person is present in a predetermined region surrounding an electric lock, based on first information generated by an electronic device;
when it is determined that a first person is present in the predetermined region in the performing of the first determination, performing a second determination of whether the first person is a person who is permitted to unlock the electric lock, based on second information related to movement of the first person; and
controlling a state of the electric lock based on a result of the second determination, the state being a locked state or an unlocked state, wherein
the electric lock is settable to one of at least two security levels,
the at least two security levels include a first security level and a second security level, and
the controlling includes:
when it is determined that the first person is the person who is permitted to unlock the electric lock in the performing of the second determination, putting the electric lock in an unlocked state; and
when it is not determined that the first person is the person who is permitted to unlock the electric lock in the performing of the second determination,
(i) when the electric lock is preset to the first security level, putting the electric lock in the unlocked state, and
(ii) when the electric lock is preset to the second security level: receiving an input indicating whether to permit unlocking of the electric lock;
(ii-i) when the input received indicates that unlocking of the electric lock is permitted, putting the electric lock in the unlocked state; and
(ii-ii) when the input received indicates that unlocking of the electric lock is not permitted, not putting the electric lock in the unlocked state.

2. The electric lock control method according to claim 1 , wherein
the electronic device is an information terminal carried by the first person,
the first information is positional information indicating a position of the information terminal, and
the second information is: acceleration information indicating an acceleration rate detected by an acceleration sensor included in the information terminal; or step count information indicating a step count of the first person counted by the information terminal.

3. The electric lock control method according to claim 1 , wherein
the electronic device is an imaging device,
the first information is an image captured by the imaging device, and
the second information is gait information related to a gait of the first person, the gait information being calculated based on the image captured by the imaging device.

4. The electric lock control method according to claim 1 , wherein
the electric lock is disposed on a door of a doorway of a building,
the electronic device is: a battery charger that charges an electric vehicle and is disposed in the building or within a predetermined range from the building; or a distribution board that supplies power to the battery charger,
the first information is connection information indicating that the electric vehicle has been connected to the battery charger, and
the second information is acceleration information indicating an acceleration rate detected by an acceleration sensor included in an information terminal carried by the first person.

5. The electric lock control method according to claim 1 , wherein
in the performing of the second determination, whether the first person is the person who is permitted to unlock the electric lock is determined using a machine learning model trained in advance to output, in response to the second information being input, a score indicating certainty that the first person is the person who is permitted to unlock the electric lock.

6. The electric lock control method according to claim 1 , wherein
the controlling includes outputting a warning signal when it is not determined that the first person is the person who is permitted to unlock the electric lock in the performing of the second determination.

7. The electric lock control method according to claim 6 , wherein
the electronic device is an information terminal carried by the first person,
the first information is positional information indicating a position of the information terminal, and
the warning signal is of an image indicating an alarm on a map of an area surrounding a position of the information terminal indicated by the positional information.

8. An electric lock control system comprising:
a first determiner that determines whether a person is present in a predetermined region surrounding an electric lock, based on first information generated by an electronic device;
a second determiner that, when the first determiner has determined that a first person is present in the predetermined region, determines whether the first person is a person who is permitted to unlock the electric lock, based on second information related to movement of the first person; and
a controller that controls a state of the electric lock based on a result of the determination by the second determiner, the state being a locked state or an unlocked state, wherein
the electric lock is settable to one of at least two security levels,
the at least two security levels include a first security level and a second security level,
the controller:
when the second determiner has determined that the first person is the person who is permitted to unlock the electric lock, puts the electric lock in an unlocked state; and
when the second determiner has not determined that the first person is the person who is permitted to unlock the electric lock,
(i) when the electric lock is preset to the first security level, puts the electric lock in the unlocked state, and
(ii) when the electric lock is preset to the second security level: receives an input indicating whether to permit unlocking of the electric lock;
(ii-i) when the input received indicates that unlocking of the electric lock is permitted, puts the electric lock in the unlocked state; and
(ii-ii) when the input received indicates that unlocking of the electric lock is not permitted, does not put the electric lock in the unlocked state.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a computer program for causing a computer to execute electric lock control processing, wherein
the electric lock control processing includes:
performing a first determination of whether a person is present in a predetermined region surrounding an electric lock, based on first information generated by an electronic device;
when it is determined that a first person is present in the predetermined region in the performing of the first determination, performing a second determination of whether the first person is a person who is permitted to unlock the electric lock, based on second information related to movement of the first person; and
controlling a state of the electric lock based on a result of the second determination, the state being a locked state or an unlocked state,
the electric lock is settable to one of at least two security levels,
the at least two security levels include a first security level and a second security level, and
the controlling includes:
when it is determined that the first person is the person who is permitted to unlock the electric lock in the performing of the second determination, putting the electric lock in an unlocked state; and
when it is not determined that the first person is the person who is permitted to unlock the electric lock in the performing of the second determination,
(i) when the electric lock is preset to the first security leve

Assignees

• Panasonic Ip Corp America

Inventors

• Hisai Masashi
• Maeda Manabu
• Kato Ryo
• Nishida Naohisa
• Harada Kenji
• Haga Tomoyuki
• Unagami Yuji

Classifications

• G07C2209/63

  Comprising locating means for detecting the position of the data carrier, i.e. within the vehicle or within a certain distance from the vehicle · CPC title

• G07C9/00571 Primary

  operated by interacting with a central unit · CPC title

• G07C9/00563

  using personal physical data of the operator, e.g. finger prints, retinal images, voicepatterns · CPC title

• G07C9/27

  with central registration · CPC title

• G07C9/253

  visually · CPC title