Patent ID: 8810361
Filing Date: 2014-08-19
Classification: B65D,B65F,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A trash container locking mechanism for locking a trash container comprising: a top part attached or built into a trash container lid; a bottom part attached or built into the trash container; a locking mechanism consisting of at least two locks; a primary lock operably connected to a secondary lock to conditionally allow or disallow unlocking of the secondary lock; a sensor for the primary lock that detects a condition required to allow unlocking of the primary lock; a timer for the primary lock that locks the primary lock after a specified time following the unlocking of the primary lock; a secondary lock; a sensor for the secondary lock that detects a separate condition required to allow the unlocking of the secondary lock; a gating mechanism that allows the unlocking of the secondary lock only if the primary lock is unlocked; a timer for the secondary lock that locks the secondary lock after a specified time following the unlocking of the secondary lock; a battery or energy harvesting mechanism to supply power to the trash container locking mechanism; a state machine that implements a locking and unlocking algorithm; and a fault detection mechanism that can unlock or lock the trash container locking mechanism according to a predefined setting.