Controllable pet access system

A controllable animal access system connectable to the door of a building which has an opening covered by a pivotally moveable animal door. The animal access system has a motion detector associated with a reader which detects an encoded pet tag worn by a selected animal and actuates locking and unlocking mechanisms in response to reading an accepted code. Various other controls are provided for operation of the apparatus.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to apparatus for controllably providing 
animals ingress and egress to a building. More particularly, the pet or 
animal must possess an encoded tag which is coded to a reader of the 
system in order to actuate the system. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
It is generally felt by the public that pets are a big nuisance. They 
demand considerable attention, require repetitive trips to their outside 
bathrooms, seem to enjoy back yards, but must continuously return inside 
to apparently determine if anything has changed in the last few minutes. 
Irrespective of the bother and annoyance they cause, the public at large 
is in love with their pets. 
In order to increase the joy/work ratio associated with pet ownership, 
various apparatus have been devised for permitting ingress and egress of 
the pets. Early apparatus consisted of a pivotally moveable pet door 
associated with an outside door of the house. With this apparatus, the 
pets soon learned to push their way through the door as they desired. 
However, operation of this system were also soon learned by undesirable 
visiting racoons, opossums, and rodents. 
This invention therefore relates to apparatus with provides the functions 
of earlier devices, but contains the capability of providing controlled 
access to a particular animal while eliminating the possibility of entry 
by other unselected animals. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In one aspect of the invention, a controllable animal access system is 
connectable to the door of a building. The building door has an opening 
therethrough. 
An animal door of a size sufficient to cover the building door opening is 
pivotally connectable to the building door and moveable between an open 
position and a closed position. A motion detector is adapted to detect 
movement adjacent the animal door and deliver a first signal "A" in 
response to said detected movement. An encoded animal tag is provided. 
At least one solenoid having a locking bar is connectable to the building 
door adjacent the animal door. The solenoid is also connectable to the 
motion detector and is adapted to receive a third signal "B". The locking 
bar is moveable between a normally locked position at which the locking 
bar is contacting the animal door and maintaining said animal door in a 
locked position and an open position at which the locking bar is spaced 
from the animal door in response receiving signal "B". 
A reader is connectable to the solenoid and to the motion detector. The 
reader is actuated in response to receive receiving signal "A" and is 
adapted to deliver a scanning signal and receive a return signal from the 
encoded animal tag. Responsive to receiving the return signal from the 
encoded animal tag, the reader delivers signal "B" to the solenoid. 
A power source is connectable to the motion detector, the solenoid, and the 
reader. A timer is operably connectable to the solenoid and the reader and 
adapted to terminate power to the solenoid and reader a preselected time 
delay after delivery of signal "B".

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
Referring to FIG. 1, the controllable pet or animal access system 2 of this 
invention is connect able to the door 4 of a building. The building door 4 
has an opening 6 therethrough. For purposes of brevity, the animal will 
hereafter more often be referred to as a pet. 
An animal or pet door 8 is provided which is of a size sufficient to cover 
the opening 6 of the building door 4. The pet door 8 is pivotally 
connectable to the building door 4 by hinge 10 and is moveable between an 
open position, shown by broken lines, and a closed position, shown by 
solid lines. 
For purposes of simplicity, FIG. 1 only shows by broken lines the pet door 
8 swinging outwardly for egress of a pet. It should be understood that the 
pet door 8 is also constructed to swing inwardly for ingress of a pet. 
A motion detector 12 is connectable to one of the doors 4,8 or adjacent 
building structure, preferably to the building door 4, and is adapted to 
detect movement adjacent the pet door 8 and deliver an actuating signal 
"A" in response to said detected movement. 
At least one solenoid 14, preferably a pair of solenoids 14,16 are 
connectable to the building door 4 adjacent the pet door 8 and connectable 
to the motion detector. The solenoid or solenoids 14,16 are adapted to 
receive a hereafter signal "B". Each of the solenoids 14,16 have a 
respective locking bar 18,20. The locking bars 18,20 are moveable between 
a normally locked position at which the locking bars 18,20 are contacting 
the pet door 8 and maintaining the pet door 8 in a closed and locked 
position and an open position at which the locking bars 18,20 are spaced 
from the pet door 8 and the pet door 8 is free to move to an open 
position. Movement of the locking bars 18,20 to the open position is in 
response to receiving signal "B". 
A reader 22 is connectable to the solenoids 18,20 and to the motion 
detector 12. The reader is actuated in response to receiving signal "A" 
from the motion detector 12. The reader is adapted to deliver a scanning 
signal and receive a return signal from an encoded pet tag 24 and 
responsively deliver signal "B" to the solenoids 14,16 in response to 
receiving a correct and preselected return signal from the pet tag 24. 
A timer 26 is operably connectable to the solenoids 14,16 and the reader 22 
and adapted to terminate power to the solenoids 14,16 and reader 22 a 
preselected time delay after delivery of signal "B". In response to 
termination of solenoid power, the solenoids return to the locked position 
thereby locking the pet door 8 to the building door 4. A power source 27 
for the apparatus of this invention can be provided to the associated 
apparatus by battery or 110 volt house power. Preferably the apparatus 
will utilize battery power to operate the motion detector 12, solenoids 
14,16, reader 22 and hereafter more fully disturbed timed controlled 
devices. 
It should be noted that by controllably terminating power to the solenoids 
14,16 and reader 22, a preselected time interval after actuation of the 
solenoids 14,16, power is conserved as is wear and tear of the apparatus. 
In one embodiment of this invention, a control switch 28 is connectable to 
the motion detector 12, the reader 22, and the solenoids 14,16 and is 
adapted for manual disabling the solenoids. In another embodiment of this 
invention, a time clock 30 can be connected to the control switch 28 and 
provide an automatic function of freeing the pet door for locking and 
unlocking at preselected timed intervals. 
In the preferred embodiment of this invention, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a 
switching system 32, consists of the control switch 28, and the time 
clock. First signal "A" and second signal "A'" are deliverable by the 
motion detector. In this preferred system, signal "A" is delivered to the 
switching system 32 in response to motion detected only on the outside of 
the pet door 8 and signal "A'" is delivered to the switching system 32 in 
response to motion detected only on the inside of the pet door 8. The 
switching system 32 has a plurality of settings which can be preselected 
for providing additional control of pet door operation and thereby more 
completely control the family pet. 
The switching system 32 settings can be adapted to selectively interrupt 
signals "A" and "A'" and responsively free solenoid actuation in response 
to delivery of only signal "A", only signal "A'", either one of signals 
"A" and "A'", and selectively interrupt all incoming signals from the 
motion detector system. 
By use of this switching system 32, operation of the times during the day 
in which ingress and egress can be obtained by the pet, and additionally 
the access mode can be controlled. Operation examples are as follows: 
Only incoming pets permitted use of the pet door; 
Only outgoing pets permitted use of the pet door; 
Both incoming and outgoing pets permitted use of the pet door; 
Neither incoming nor outgoing pets permitted use of the pet door; and 
Each of these modes can be further limited to specific periods during a 
day. 
Although this invention is primarily used for ingress and egress of pets, 
it should also be understood that it can be used for controlling the 
movement of security animals, zoo animals, farm animals, and others. In 
such uses, this invention might have the opening for the animal formed in 
a wall, as opposed to being formed in a building door. 
The motion detector 12 of this invention is preferably sized to detect 
movement of relatively small animals normally maintained as pets at a 
distance in the range of about 2 to about 10 feet from the motion detector 
12, more preferably at about 5 feet from the motion detector 12. The 
motion detector 12 detects motion on opposed sides of the door 4 and 
actuates the reader 22 to send out and receive signals "A and A'" from 
respective opposed sides of the door 4, as described above. 
In order to assure complete closure of the pet door 8 and alignment of the 
solenoid locking bars 18,20 in respective holes of the pet door 8, it is 
preferred that at least one pair, preferably two pairs of magnets 34,36 
and 38,40 be utilized. A first magnet 34,38 of each pair will be 
connectable to the building door 4 and a second magnet 36,40 of each pair 
will be connectable to the pet door 8 adjacent a respective first magnet 
34,38 and oriented relative one to the other for attracting one another. 
It should be understood that other pet door aligning mechanisms can be 
utilized without departing from this invention. Referring to FIG. 3, the 
pet door 8 of this invention is hinged at the side of the pet door 8 and 
the aligning mechanism is a coil spring 42, for example. 
Referring to FIG. 4, it is preferred that a framing system 44 be used to 
provide support for the apparatus of this invention and to provide a more 
pleasing appearance. 
The framing system 44 can consist of a metal flange system 46 extending 
about the opening 6 of the building door 4 and being connectable to said 
building door 4 by screws, bolts or other means known in the art. The 
metal flange system 46 preferably is slidably position able through the 
building door opening 6 and the motion detector 12, reader 22, power 
source 27 and timers with associated switching systems (if any) are 
likewise connected thereto. 
First and second trim covers 48,50, preferably formed of paintable organic 
plastic are connectable to opposed respective sides of the building door 4 
about the opening 6 thereof. 
Referring to FIG. 5, the pet door 8 has insulation 52 sandwiched between 
inner 54 and outer 56 surfaces of the door 8. In order to provide further 
thermal efficiency, a thermal barrier 58, formed of for example nylon 
pile, extends about the peripheral outer edge of the pet door 8. 
Industrial Applicability 
In the operation of the apparatus of this invention, the encoded pet tag is 
placed on or within a collar of the pet. As the pet moves toward the 
building door 4 to get in or out, the motion detector 12 delivers a signal 
to the reader 22 and thereby actuates the reader 22 which sends out a 
scanning signal and receives a return signal. If the code of the return 
signal is acceptable, the reader 22 delivers a signal "B", through a timer 
26 to solenoids 14,16. The solenoids 14,16 are thereby actuated to retract 
their respective locking bars 18,20 and free the pet door 8 for pivotal 
movement in response to the identified pet pushing against the pet door 8. 
In response to receipt of signal "B", timer 26 is actuated and, after a 
preselected period, interrupts power to the solenoids 14,16 which 
resultingly causes the locking bars 18,20 to return to the locked 
position. This time period is selected of a sufficient duration that a 
trained pet will be through the door by time termination. 
By this system, only the identified pet passed through the pet door 8 and 
the pet door 8 is shortly thereafter locked. 
The switching system 32, as explained above, provides further control over 
pet ingress and egress. 
Other aspects, objects and advantages of this invention can be obtained 
from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims.