Abstract:
A smart mailbox system capable of electronically communicating the receipt of mail and the collection of mail to an end user. User authentication allows the mailbox to communicate the identity of the user who collects the mail. The mailbox also images the mail so as to provide a record of the receipt of specific pieces of mail and to permit the user to visually see the collected mail without having to go to the mailbox. The identity of the sender and recipient are made available through the system. The system is also networkable so as to join multiple mailboxes within the same network.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application 62/189,751 filed on Jul. 8, 2016. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND 
     1. Art Field 
       [0002]    This application relates to any secure container capable of exchanging stored physical objects between two authenticated parties. Particularly, this application discloses a method and system for a mailbox, or any mailbox like device such as key deposit box, that may be used as a temporary secure storage vault for physical exchange of objects by authenticated users. More particularly, this application relates to a mailbox, or any mailbox like device such as key deposit box, that may be used as a temporary secure storage vault for physical exchange of objects by authenticated users capable of communicating its status over internet. 
       2. Related Art 
       [0003]    Computing has become all-pervasive due to decreased cost of computing devices. Beyond their traditional application as server, desktop and mobile devices, computers and central processing units (CPUs) can be found in many consumer products as embedded devices, such as, cars, game consoles, smart electric meters, and many other smart home appliances and equipment. In the field of computer science, the term ‘ubiquitous computing’ generally refers to computing needs and methods, where computers and CPUs are utilized in everyday application. 
         [0004]    A paradigm in which the computers employed in ubiquitous computing communicate with each other over the internet is generally called ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) or ‘Internet of Everything’ (IoE). An important component of the IoT paradigm is the human-computer interface, where the status from one or more computing devices in common household items is sent for human observation, monitoring or further input. 
         [0005]    A mailbox is a common household item (each house with an address has one) that has been used for centuries for secured disposal or acceptance of mails and other parcels. The concept of mailbox has been used for other purposes as well, such as, exchanging keys, cash or documents among workers of two consecutive shifts. However, there is no direct way for a mailbox to alert the recipient that an object is waiting for retrieval, nor to send any acknowledgement to the sender of the item when the item is retrieved. 
         [0006]    Traditionally, when a letter or mail is delivered in a traditional mailbox, the postman raises the flag of the mailbox, if one is available, indicating that the mailbox has received mail. Observing the position of the flag from a distance saves the owner an unnecessary trip to the mailbox and the effort of opening it if there has been no mail received that day. Moreover, the burden falls on the owner of the mailbox to remember to reset the mailbox status, i.e. manually lowering the flag, after removing all mails so that the postal carrier can trigger the status change, i.e. raise the flag, upon the next delivery. 
         [0007]    This primitive form of physical mail exchange has worked well for many years. However, there are several obvious drawbacks to this process. First, the owner needs to be in the line of sight of the mailbox to see the status of the flag. That may not always be easily achieved from the comfort of one&#39;s home. For example, a mailbox in rural areas, may be located in a place easily accessible by the postal service but at a distance from the home it is associated with and not within the line of sight from the home. Coming out of the home and reaching a line of sight point for the purpose of checking the status of the flag is an inconvenience to the recipient, especially during inclement weather. Also, the recipient may not be at home, e.g. traveling or at work, and may still want to know whether mail has been received or, for example, if a specific mail has been delivered on that day. Furthermore, a commercial mailbox is kept at a facility owned by the business. The user of the mailbox has no way to know if and which mail has been delivered to the mailbox without making a trip to the location of the mailbox and opening it. 
         [0008]    Another drawback of the current process is that even if the owner knows one or more pieces of mail have been delivered from a raised flag, there is no way to know which specific piece of mail has been delivered. The owner still needs to make a trip to the mailbox to learn the identity of the sender and estimate the priority of retrieving the piece of mail. If a piece of mail is not important enough to be immediately collected, the owner still needs to be physically present to open the mailbox so as to inspect the item. 
         [0009]    A further drawback of the current process is that there is no automated logging of received pieces of mail. Situations where automatic logging of incoming mails is useful are where an owner of a mailbox may need to keep track of the incoming log for business, legal or reminder purposes. Also, a mailbox may have more than one owner (spouses, roommates, business partners, etc.). One owner may see the flag and take the pieces of mail out without the knowledge of other(s). It is currently not possible for all of them to be notified when/if a piece of mail arrives. 
         [0010]    An additional drawback of the current process is that there is no further reminder possible if a piece of mail has arrived but has not been picked up for certain time unless the owner chances upon the red flag again. 
         [0011]    A further drawback of the current process is that the sender of a piece of mail never receives any automatic acknowledgement when the mail is delivered or retrieved, unless an external or sideband service, such as, signature confirmation, is used. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0012]    The present application discloses a smart mailbox with the capability to communicate the occurrence of events of interest to end users. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0013]      FIG. 1  is a side view of the internal structure of a mailbox, illustrating various components and interfaces, in accordance with a preferred embodiment. 
           [0014]      FIG. 2  is the flowchart of the process for mail delivery in one embodiment of the device of the present application. 
           [0015]      FIG. 3  is the flowchart of the process for the collection of mail in one embodiment of the device of the present application. 
           [0016]      FIG. 4  is the schematic representation of various components of the software system in accordance with an embodiment of the device of the present application. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0017]    Reference will now be made in detail to specific embodiments of the device  100  of the present application including the contemplated best modes. Examples of these specific embodiments are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. While the device  100  of the present application is described in conjunction with these specific embodiments, it will be understood that it is not intended to be limited to the described embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the application as defined by the appended claims. In the following description, specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the device. The disclosed device and methods may be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In addition, well known features may not have been described in detail to avoid unnecessary obscuring of the scope of the application. 
         [0018]    In accordance with the present application, the components, process steps, and/or data structures may be implemented using various types of operating systems, programming languages, computing platforms, computer programs, and/or general purpose machines. In addition, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that devices of a less general purpose nature, such as hardwired devices, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or the like, may also be used without departing from the scope and spirit of the inventive concepts disclosed herein. The system of the present application may also be tangibly embodied as a set of computer instructions stored on a computer readable medium, such as a memory device. 
         [0019]    It should be noted that the terms “Internet of Things”, “Internet of Everything” and “IoT” as used in the present document shall be construed broadly and in line with common usage in the computer software field. Specifically, when describing an IoT enabled computing device, it is recognized that the term IoT shall include any communication protocol, including but not limited to, protocol that can be carried out over internet. 
         [0020]    It should also be noted that the term “mailbox” as used in the present application shall be construed broadly to mean any secured or unsecured physical storage device that can be used for exchanging physical objects between two parties. This can include traditional mailboxes, as used for delivering and receiving postal mails, but it can also include more generic usages of such a storage or holding place for any object. For example, the system can be applied to key boxes, drop boxes, cash vaults, document boxes, etc. 
         [0021]    In a preferred embodiment, a process is provided that lets a receptacle  100  detect when an object is deposited and communicate this status to a central server. 
         [0022]    In a preferred embodiment, a process is provided that lets the aforementioned server  200  communicate this status to one or more end users. The status may be communicated in the form of text, image or any other form of electronic communication. The status may include an image of the object that has been delivered but has not been retrieved. 
         [0023]    In a preferred embodiment, a process is provided that lets a server communicate periodic reminder to one or more end users when a previously deposited object has not been retrieved for longer than a preset amount of time. 
         [0024]    In a preferred embodiment, a process is provided that lets a mailbox  100  detect when a previously deposited object is retrieved and communicate this status to a central server. 
         [0025]    In a preferred embodiment, a process is provided for individual electronically secured access to the mailbox  100  for retrieving purposes. 
         [0026]    In a preferred embodiment, a process is provided that lets a server  200  communicate a notification of the event of retrieval of object from the mailbox  100  to other co-users of the same mailbox. 
         [0027]      FIG. 1  is the side view of the internal structure of a mailbox  100  in accordance to a preferred embodiment illustrating various components and interfaces. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that this is merely an example, and that there may be other ways of handling steps in mail delivery process that can be implemented in keeping with the spirit of the disclosure. 
         [0028]    In one embodiment of the system, the interfaces to the outside environment can be broadly categorized as (1) physical interface  350  and (2) electronic interface  400 . In an additional embodiment of the system, the physical interface  300  possesses an entry slot  1140  through which letters are inserted into the mailbox  100 . The slot  1140  is configured so as to permit the entry of mail but to inhibit its removal back through the entry slot  1140  so as to prevent mail theft. In a preferred embodiment, a motorized mechanical gate  1040  protects the slot  1140  and opens only when a sensor # detects a piece of mail being inserted through the slot  1140  and sends a signal to the motor  1030 . The gate  1040 , normally closed, helps to protect the internal electronic circuitry from outside dust and other environmental contaminants. 
         [0029]    In one embodiment of the system, the mailbox  100  further consists of securable collection door  1110 , large enough for the owner to access the pieces of mail deposited inside the mailbox  100  and remove then remove them. 
         [0030]    In a preferred embodiment, the slot  1140  is protected by password entered through an electronic interface  400  which controls the gate  1040 . In a further embodiment, multiple passwords are utilized for end user authentication. 
         [0031]    In a preferred embodiment, the internal IoT Processing Unit  1070 , i.e. IPU, that connects to various internal components of the electronic interface  400 . These communications are indicated by the dashed lines in  FIG. 1 . A data connection  1150  between the IPU  1070  and a back-end server  200  conveys various control and status data. In a further embodiment, the data connection  1150  is an IoT compliant connection. 
         [0032]    In a preferred embodiment, various sensor systems  1021 ,  1022 ,  1081 ,  1082 ,  1091 , and  1092  are used for detecting current system status and then communicating it electronically to the IPU  1070 . These sensor transmitter and receiver pairs  1021 ,  1022  and  1081 ,  1082  and  1091 ,  1092  are preferably simple infrared transmitter/receiver pairs, but this does not preclude the use of any other form of sensors with achieve similar results. As an example, a first infrared transmitter  1021  sends a first infra-red light beam  1023  to a first infrared receiver  1022 . If there is no object that interrupts the first infrared beam  1023  between the first infrared transmitter  1021  and the first infrared receiver  1022 , the first light beam  1023  reaches the infrared receiver  1022  unobstructed. However, when there is an obstruction, the first light beam  1023  does not reach the infrared receiver  1022 . The obstruction of the infrared beam to the first infrared receiver  1022  is a reportable event as is the receipt of the first infrared beam  1023 . The status of the first infrared beam  1023  is reported to the IPU  1070  for processing, as is the status of the second infrared beam  1083  and the third infrared beam  1093 . A second infrared transmitter  1081  transmits a second infrared beam  1083  to a second infrared receiver  1082  to act within the receptacle  100  to trigger the imaging sequence of the incoming piece of mail. A third infrared transmitter  1091  transmits a third infrared beam  1083  to a third infrared receiver  1092  act within the mailbox  100  and is placed after the imaging of the piece of mail to trigger record the entry of the piece of mail into a collection compartment  1120 . 
         [0033]    In a preferred embodiment, the operation of the device  100  described in the present application can be divided into two main parts—item reception and item removal. In a preferred embodiment, it is assumed that one piece of mail at a time would be inserted through the entry slot  1140  while the deliverer is instructed to orient the piece of mail to facilitate imaging  2050  by the imaging system  1060 . It will be understood that this assumption is not intended to limit the device to the described embodiments and that dual imaging systems  1080  may be utilized to image  2050  the top and bottom faces of a piece of mail. 
         [0034]    The item receiving process, as depicted in flow diagram  FIG. 2 , illustrates a method for an item to be received into the receptacle. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that this is merely an example, and that there may be other ways of receiving an item which can be implemented while keeping with the spirit of the disclosure. The receptacle  100  utilizes an item receiving process  2010  which detects if a piece of mail is approaching the entry slot  1140  and triggers the receptacle  100  to begin to receive and image  2050  incoming items. 
         [0035]    In  FIG. 2 , the item receiving process  2010  triggers the opening of the entry slot gate  1040  that is normally closed but is actuated by the interruption of the infrared signal to the first infrared receiver  1022 . The item receiving process  2010  triggers the actuation of the motor assembly  1030  which controls the opening of the entry slot gate  1040 . 
         [0036]    The conveying process  2030  utilizing the first conveyer belt assembly  1101  and second conveyor belt assembly  1102  is triggered by the item receiving process  2010  and conveys the incoming mail toward the imaging apparatus  1060 . A letter detector system  2040  utilizing the second infrared sensors  1081 ,  1082  associated with the imaging apparatus  1060  actuates the letter imaging event  2050  while the letter is within the imaging field of the imaging apparatus  1060 . 
         [0037]    The Letter Detector sensor system activates the Camera at  1060  of  FIG. 1 . During the imaging process  2050  the letter is momentarily stopped as the Camera takes a picture of the face of the letter showing the addressee, and possibly the sender information. The imaging process  2050  is followed by an imaging transmission process  2060  to the IPU  1070 . At suitable time, the image is communicated from the IPU  1070  to the server  200  using the data communication connection  1150 . This is followed by the collection process  2070  during which the letter is dropped into the collection compartment  1120  by the second conveyor belt assembly  1101 . The letter collection process  2080  is triggered by the interruption of the third infrared signal  1083  to the third infrared receiver  1082 . 
         [0038]    The collection process  2080  is followed by a last letter calculation  2090 , preferably the result of a timer. Steps  2010  through  2080  are repeated the last letter calculation ends in a positive result at which time the receptacle  100  enters a sleep mode to conserve power. 
         [0039]      FIG. 3  depicts the item collection process from a mailbox as envisioned by the device  100  described in the present application. The mail removal process  3010  begins as the collection door  1110  that the mailbox owner opens to take the arrived mails out. The Collection Door Sensor at  1130  of  FIG. 1  is associated with the Collection Door and determines the current state (open, close) of the door and conveys that information to the IPU at  1070  of  FIG. 1 . In a preferred embodiment, the collection door may be actuated manually and is protected by a manual lock. A collection decision  3020  indicates whether the collection door  1110  has been opened. As previously discussed, the collection door  1110  actuation can be password protected. 
         [0040]    In a preferred embodiment, the owner collects the pieces of mail from the collection compartment  1120 . The letter deposit sensors  1091 ,  1092  detect whether the collection compartment  1120  is empty and relays that information to the IPU  1070 . As the next step of the collection process, a collection decision  3030  is made to indicate whether the collection compartment  1120  is empty and this status is reported to the server  300 . In the last step the collection process, a collection door status calculation  3040  indicates whether the collection door  1110  is closed or open. 
         [0041]    The processes envisioned by the collection process previously described also indicate exception situations. If the collection door  1120  is never opened but a non-empty Deposit Box turns empty, an alert process  3070  sends an alert message to the server to warn of possible mail theft or similar aberration. It should be noted that the IPU  1070  acts as the central processing unit for all processes and calculations. 
         [0042]      FIG. 4  is the schematic representation of the device&#39;s  100  software system architecture as envisioned in the present application. The IPU software unit  4100  is located and run on the IPU  1070  in a device  100  envisioned by this disclosure. The central back-end service module  4200  that runs on a central server  300 . It is envisioned that a number of IPU software units  4100  will be connected to the central back-end service module  4200 . The actual number of mailboxes, shown as N in  FIG. 4 , connected to the central back-end service module  4200  will depend on the server  300  strength and load. The central back-end service module  4200  consists of the IPU interface manager  4250  and various software agents  4300 . Each software agent  4300  has a pre-specified task. Once the status from an IPU software unit  4100  is received, each software agent pulls this information from the IPU interface manager  4250  as a client to perform its assigned task. For example, a particular type of status message may be handled by one or more specific software agents  4300  which process this data independently. It will be understood that the number, responsibilities and the protocol of communication between the software agents and the IPU interface manager  4250  can be implemented in various ways keeping the spirit of the disclosure. A plurality of individual software agents  4300  are responsible for initiating a request and then processing the response from the IPU interface manager  4250 . The software agents  4300  are responsible for monitoring the said responses received by other agents, for storing usage data of the responding mailboxes and for deriving analytical conclusions processing these usage data. The IPU interface manager  4250  acts as a conduit between the IPU software units of all mailboxes connected to this server  300  and all software agents  4300 . These communications are shown as  4210  and  4220 . Furthermore, the IPU interface manager  4250  is capable of communicating to the registered devices of the recipients or owners of the mailboxes at  4400 . Such communications are shown at  4410 . 
         [0043]    In its simplest form, only one central back-end service module  4200  is connected to multiple IPUs  1070 . However, it will be understood that an architecture that employs clusters of central back-end service modules  4200  communicating with each other for load balancing, geographical distribution of work, quality of service maintenance or other purposes can be implemented keeping with the spirit of this disclosure. 
         [0044]    There are multiple ways to implement the software architecture. In an embodiment, the software architecture may take the form of an MQTT type publisher-subscriber architecture, where each IPU  1070  will be a publisher, the IPU interface manager  4250  will be the broker and the software agents  4300  taking action on the messages published from any unit of IPU  1070  will be the subscriber. 
         [0045]    Operation of each instance of the IPU software unit  4100  located in individual mailbox  100  can be divided into two major parts. The control software manager  4110  closely monitors and takes action on all hardware operations of a mailbox  100  envisioned by this application. The IPU software unit  4100  also possesses a server interface manager software module  4120 . 
         [0046]    In a preferred embodiment, when the input from the first infrared sensors  1021 ,  1022  indicates the arrival of new mail the control software manager  4110  interfaces with the entry slot gate motor  1030  to operate the entry slot gate  1040 . 
         [0047]    In a further preferred embodiment, the control software manager  4110  starts and stops the first and second conveyer belt assemblies  1101 ,  1102  as it carries letters past the imaging apparatus  1060  and drops them into the collection compartment  1120 . 
         [0048]    In a preferred embodiment, the control software manager  4110  also stops the when the second infrared sensors  1081 ,  1082  are triggered and then instructs the imaging apparatus  1060  to image  2050  the letter before starting the second conveyer belt assembly  1101  again. 
         [0049]    In a preferred embodiment, the control software manager  4110  receives input from the third infrared sensors  1091 ,  1092  that indicates that the collection compartment  1120  is empty or not. 
         [0050]    In a preferred embodiment, the control software manager  4110  also receives open/close state information of the collection door  1110  from the collection door sensor at  1130 . 
         [0051]    In one embodiment of the server interface manager part of the IPU software unit  4100 , each mailbox  100  is identified by a unique ID, henceforth referred to as MID. 
         [0052]    In one embodiment of the server interface manager, each mailbox  100  communicates with the central back-end service module  4200 . 
         [0053]    In a preferred embodiment, the aforementioned communication contains, among other fields, an MID, a message type and the contents. 
         [0054]    In a preferred embodiment, the server interface manager sends a message of message type ‘Heartbeat’ to its allocated central back-end service module  4200  at a regular interval (for example, once a day). The non-arrival of the heartbeat message indicates something is wrong with the mailbox associated with that non-reporting IPU software unit  4100 . 
         [0055]    In a preferred embodiment, with the arrival of one or more new pieces of mail, server interface manager sends a message, identified by the MID, to its connected Central Backend Service Module with the Message Type set to ‘New Mail’. 
         [0056]    In a preferred embodiment, when the server interface manager sends a message with message type set to ‘New Mail’, it attaches individual photographs of the pieces of mail to the connected central back-end service module  4200 . 
         [0057]    In various embodiments of the disclosure, the server interface manager communicates various reminder services to the connected central back-end service module  4200 . 
         [0058]    In an embodiment, the Server Interface Manager sends a message to the connected central back-end service module  4200  with a message type set to ‘Mailbox Non-empty’ at an interval set by the users. 
         [0059]    In an embodiment of the system, if the Control Software Manager of a mailbox envisioned by the device  100  described in the present application detects the following sequence of events: (mailbox is non-empty and the mailbox door is closed, mailbox door is open, mailbox is empty and mailbox door is close), then the Server Interface Manager sends a message to the Central Backend Service Module with Message type set to ‘Mailbox Empty’. 
         [0060]    In an embodiment of the system, if the control software manager  4110  described in the present application detects the following sequence of events: (mailbox  100  is non-empty and the mailbox door  1110  is closed, mailbox  1100  is empty and mailbox door  1110  is closed), the server interface manager sends a message to the central backend service module  4200  with message type set to ‘Alert’. 
         [0061]    In a preferred embodiment, the central backend service module  4200  identifies a connected mailbox  100  by its unique MID when it receives a message from that mailbox  100 . 
         [0062]    In a preferred embodiment, the central backend service module  4200  has a list of associated emails and phone numbers for each MID. 
         [0063]    In a preferred embodiment, when a message arrives to the central backend service module  4200  from one of the connected mailboxes and the Message Type is ‘New Mail’, it sends email and/or automated voice call to the recipients. If one or more images accompany the message from the mailbox, the central backend service module  4200  also sends links to these images to the recipients. 
         [0064]    In a preferred embodiment, the Central Backend Service Module has optical character recognition (OCR) capability in one of the Software Agents to read contents written on the envelopes from the received image of a piece of mail. 
         [0065]    In a preferred embodiment, when a message arrives to the central backend service module  4200  from one of the connected mailboxes  100  and the Message Type is ‘Mailbox Non-empty’, the central backend service module  4200  sends email or voice mail reminder to the recipients associated with the MID for picking up the mail. 
         [0066]    In a preferred embodiment, when a message arrives to the central backend service module  4200  from one of the connected mailboxes and the Message Type is ‘Mailbox Empty’, the server  300  stops sending any message reminder. 
         [0067]    In a preferred embodiment, when a message arrives to the central backend service module  4200  from one of the connected mailboxes  100  and the message type is ‘Alert’, the server  300  sends alert messages to the registered devices of the recipient or additional people who may attend to the situation immediately. 
         [0068]    In a preferred embodiment, when a message arrives to the central backend service module  4200  from one of the connected mailboxes  100  and the message type ‘Heartbeat’ has not arrived for more than the expected heartbeat message period, the server  300  sends a diagnostic message to the service team on the health concern of that particular mailbox  100 . 
         [0069]    In a preferred embodiment, there may be more than one central backend service module  4200 , each of which may communicate with another such server  300  for load balancing, geographical distribution of work, quality of service maintenance or other purposes. 
         [0070]    It should also be noted that any of the steps of the algorithms and processes described above may be embodied in hardware or software, or any combination thereof. In a software embodiment, one or more of the components are designed as programmable computer instructions executable by a machine, such as a computer processor, the instructions stored in a computer readable medium. 
         [0071]    While the device  100  and processes of the present application have been particularly shown and described with reference to specific embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that changes in the form and details of the disclosed embodiments may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the application. In addition, although various advantages, aspects, and objects of the device  100  and processes of the present application have been discussed herein with reference to various embodiments, it will be understood that the scope of the application should not be limited by reference to such advantages, aspects, and objects. Rather, the scope of the application should be determined with reference to the appended claims.