Abstract:
An interactive notification system allows the owner of a safe (or any type of vault for protecting personal property) to be contacted when an alarm condition is triggered. The system is configured to respond to a return message signal from the owner to either allow or deny any continued action with the safe. Thus, the owner remains in control of all actions involving the safe, regardless of his physical location. The notification is typically sent electronically to one or more of the owner&#39;s communication devices (phone, tablet, computer, etc.), where the owner responds via the same method.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/899,930, filed Nov. 5, 2013 and herein incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates to an interactive notification system that allows the owner of a safe (or any type of vault for protecting personal property) to be contacted when any alarm condition is triggered, and requiring a response signal from the owner to either allow or deny any continued action with the safe. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     In light of the on-going tragedies surrounding gun violence, it is of paramount importance that licensed gun owners have peace of mind that their registered firearms are safely and securely locked within a gun safe (vault, case, etc.) at a secure location at all times. This is necessary to reduce a gun owner&#39;s worries when away from home (e.g., concerns such as someone breaking into the home and cracking open a gun safe to remove firearms), as well as to prevent unauthorized individuals from accessing the firearms even when the owner is home (e.g., children, contractors working at the home, etc.). 
     Beyond the concerns of gun owners, anyone that stores valuables in an on-premises safe has worries about untoward individuals breaking into and stealing items when the owner is out of town. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is directed to a system that helps to alleviate the concerns mentioned above and, more particularly, relates to an interactive notification system that allows the owner of a safe (or any type of vault for protecting personal property) to be contacted when any alarm condition is triggered, and requiring a response signal from the owner to either allow or deny any continued action with the safe. 
     In particular, the present invention relates to a system for notifying an owner of a safe when any action associated with the safe transpires (e.g., attempting to move the safe, open the safe, perhaps even just touching the safe). The system is configured to wait for a response from the owner before allowing any further actions involving the safe to progress. Thus, the owner remains in control of all actions involving the safe, regardless of his physical location. The notification is typically sent electronically to one or more of the owner&#39;s communication devices (phone, tablet, computer, etc.), where the owner responds via the same method. For example, a telephone call-based notification and control system may be employed. As described below, the system is configured to be located within the confines of the safe itself, thus preventing any possibility of tampering with the control system. In one configuration, the system itself may include a “disable” switch that is also located within the safe—allowing the owner to deactivate the control system when desired. 
     One particular embodiment of the present invention comprises an interactive notification and alarm system to prevent the possibility of tampering with a safe, removing a safe from the premises, or even removing selected items from a safe. The interactive notification and alarm system comprises at least one sensor module for recognizing the occurrence of all activities, including a predetermined undesirable activity, which generates an alarm signal as soon as the predetermined activity occurs. A control module within the alarm system is coupled to the sensor module(s) and in response to the generation of an alarm signal by the sensor module, the control module initiates a transmission of an alarm message to at least one communication device associated with an owner of the safe. Thus, the owner is provided with an alert of the occurrence of the undesirable activity. The control module is also responsive to a return message from the owner, and uses the content of the return message to initiate a predetermined response action (e.g., “call authorities”, or “permit access”, etc.). 
     Other and further embodiments and arrangements of the present invention will become apparent during the course of the following discussion and by reference to the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Referring now to the drawings, where like numerals represent like parts in several views: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary interactive notification system for remote control of a safe (or any type of secure vault or similar container) formed in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a flow chart of an exemplary process for utilizing the interactive notification system of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  illustrates an exemplary network architecture showing a deployment of the system of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 4  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the present invention including sensor elements associated with specific items stored in a safe. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary interactive notification and control system  10 , formed in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, notification and control system  10  includes a number of separate subsystem modules, including a control module  12  for processing various signals (as well as providing bi-directional communication with the owner of the safe), a touch sensor module  14 , a motion sensor module  16  and a “door open” sensor module  18 . Modules  14 ,  16  and  18  are all coupled to control module  12  and are configured to send alarm signals to control module  12  upon the recognition of an unusual condition involving the safe. All of these components are located within a safe, shown as a vault  20  in  FIG. 1 . While capable of being powered by a conventional electric outlet, a preferred embodiment of control and notification system  10  utilizes a battery module  22  that is co-located with system  10  within the safe. 
     In one possible configuration, it is possible to also include some type of ON/OFF switch  30  with system  10 , where switch  30  would also be located within the safe. This switch would be used by the owner to deactivate control and notification system  10 . It is to be understood that this deactivation is completely under the control of the owner, and is located within the safe such that others cannot tamper with the switch. 
     As will be described in detail below, various other embodiments of the present invention may include more or less modules, as desired by the owner. For example, it is possible that an owner only cares if the safe is opened, and does not care if the safe is moved from one location to another. In this arrangement, perhaps only control module  12  and “door open” sensor module  18  would be required. 
     In explaining the operation of the system as shown in  FIG. 1 , suppose that someone has touched the safe (this includes, in most cases, the owner him or herself touching the safe). This “touch” activity will be recognized by touch sensor module  14 , which then transmits an alarm signal to control module  12 . At this point, a communication element  24  within control module  12  will transmit a specific alarm message to a communication device  30  associated with the owner (such as, for example, the owner&#39;s smartphone). The specific alarm message will be something like “SAFE 123 HAS BEEN TOUCHED” and will preferably include a timestamp (in response to signals from other modules, another alarm message may be “SAFE 123 HAS BEEN OPENED”. As will be discussed in detail below, it is possible that communication element  24  may send multiple messages to a variety of devices associated with the owner, to insure that the message is indeed received. For example, an email may be sent to the owner&#39;s laptop computer, a text message to his smartphone, and a SMS message to another electronic account. In most cases, communication element  24  will also retain a record of the alarm incident, allowing the owner to later download and retrieve all alarms received during a selected time interval. 
     Returning to a description of the operation of interactive notification and control system  10 , upon receipt of an alarm message by owner&#39;s communication device  30 , the owner can respond with a variety of commands, such as “OK” (if the owner himself has touched the safe, for example), “UNLOCK” (if the owner gives permission for someone to access the safe), “DENY, but no ALARM” (if the owner knows that the situation does not warrant further action), or “DENY, NOTIFY AUTHORITIES” (if the owner is not on premises and no one else has been given permission to access the safe). 
     While this scenario is based upon module  14  recognizing a “touch” anywhere on the outer surface of vault  20 , system  10  of the present invention may be specifically configured to restrict the region where a “touch” activity will trigger the sending of a notification to the owner (such as a lock region  26 ). Indeed, the “touch” may be limited to someone attempting to entering the combination of the safe on a keypad (or dial)  28 . In another scenario, an impermissible movement of the entire safe itself will result in triggering a motion alarm by module  16 . If the safe is somehow opened, the “door open” sensor module  18  will likewise send an alarm signal to control module  12 , causing communication element  24  to send a message such as “DOOR OPEN—SAFE 123” to one or more of the owner&#39;s communication devices. 
     In accordance with the present invention, the interactive notification and control system allows for the owner to maintain control of all actions involving his/her safe and its contents. Preferably, the system also includes a “time out” feature such that if the owner does not respond to a notification within a predefined period of time (i.e., a few minutes), the system will send an alarm signal to the authorities. An exemplary flow chart describing the use of the inventive system is shown in  FIG. 2  and includes this “time out” feature. 
     In particular,  FIG. 2  contains a flowchart  100  showing an exemplary set of process steps that may be followed in the operation of the interactive notification and control system of the present invention. For this example, it is presumed that someone has opened a safe that is secured by the system of the present invention (shown as step  110  in  FIG. 2 ). The act of opening the safe will activate “door open” sensor module  18  (step  112 ), which then responds by sending a “door open” alarm signal to control module  12  (step  114 ). 
     At this point, control module  12  may search through a local memory  23  to determine if a “door open” alarm signal has been defined by the owner as one of the signals for which he/she would like to receive an alarm. This action is shown as step  116 , and should be considered as “optional”. In the default case, it can be presumed that any alarm signal received by control module  12  will be directly transmitted to a communication device  30 . 
     Continuing with the description of  FIG. 2  and presuming that a check is made as shown in step  116 , control module  12  makes a decision (step  118 ) based on the retrieved information from local memory  23 . If the retrieved information indicates that an alarm message does not need to be sent (step  120 ), control module  12  may just record the event and return to its “waiting” mode. 
     Presuming that the retrieved information from local memory  23  indicates that an alarm message should be sent, control module  12  then selects the proper message for communication element  24  to send (in this case, including the phrase “door open”), shown as step  122 . Control module  12  also retrieves (from local memory  23 , for example) an identification of each of the owner&#39;s communication device(s) that is to receive the alarm message, as well as the proper communication format for each device (step  124 ). For example, if an alarm message is to be sent to a smartphone, a “text message” may be the selected format. Alternatively, a “voice call” may be the selected format for communicating with a smartphone (or, perhaps, both formats may be selected). An SMS message is another possibility, sent to devices such as smartphone or tablet. An email message may be the proper format for sending an alarm message to a personal computer. Indeed, any possible communication channel and message format may be used that is capable of providing bi-directional communication in accordance with the present invention. 
     At this point, control module  12  functions to send, via communication element  24 , one or more “door open” alarm messages to the owner&#39;s designated communication devices (step  126 ). Once transmitted to the owner, the process then waits for a reply (shown as decision step  128 ). Upon receipt of a response, shown as step  130  in the flowchart of  FIG. 2 , control module  12  will then take the appropriate action as requested by the owner (exemplary responses may include “access approved, unlock safe”, “access denied, take no action”, “access denied, call 911”, etc.). 
     In accordance with the “time out” feature mentioned above, the process may include a ‘wait’ interval (shown as element  132  in  FIG. 2 ) for which the system will wait for a response from the owner. If no response is received during this response interval (monitored at step  134 ), control module  12  proceeds at step  136  to send an “alarm” notification to proper personnel (which may be the local 911, an alarm company associated with the owner&#39;s property, or another other designated emergency authority). The time period associated with “wait” step  132  may be pre-programmed into the system or, alternatively, selectable by the owner. For example, a time period of 3 minutes may be selected as a response period. 
     It is contemplated that the various process steps involved in implementing the features of the present invention may be embodied as an “application” that could be downloaded onto an owner&#39;s mobile device.  FIG. 3  is a simplified network architecture diagram illustrating one possible configuration of the present invention that may include the utilization of a mobile phone app. In this example, a vault  20 A is shown as including an interactive notification and alarm system  10 A, including control module  12 A and sensor modules  14 A,  16 A and  18 A, the sensor modules being similar to the arrangement described above in association with  FIG. 1 . Also shown in  FIG. 3  is a GPS unit  32 A, which may be disposed within vault  20 A and thereafter used by the owner (or law enforcement authorities) to track the location of the vault if it is stolen. 
     In this case, however, control module  12 A does not perform any local processing of the received alarm signals from the modules. Instead, control module  12 A directly communicates the received messages to an alarm system platform  50  which is located in a communication network  52 . The transmitted messages can be relatively short, including an identification of the vault experiencing the alarm condition and the type of alarm message (e.g., Owner XYZ&#39;s vault is experiencing a “motion” alarm condition). 
     Using well-known signal processing techniques, alarm system platform  50  utilizes the identification “XYZ” to retrieve the proper information regarding that owner from, for example, a database  54 . Shown in  FIG. 3  are different records that may be stored in database  54  and associated with owner XYZ. Record  56  includes a set of possible received alarm signals (including “motion”), with the desired alarm message to be sent upon receipt of each different alarm signal. In this particular embodiment, the identification of each communication device association with owner XYZ is also listed in database record  56 , allowing for the proper signal format to be used. In this case, only XYZ&#39;s smartphone is registered, with the request to send a text message. 
     Also shown in  FIG. 3  is a second record  58  associated with owner XYZ, in this case including a set of the various response messages received from XYZ, and a listing of the proper response message to be forwarded to control module  12 A. 
     It is to be understood that this network-based application is only exemplary of one implementation of the principles of the present invention; various other configurations may be contemplated and used to perform the interactive notification and control actions associated with the alarm system of the present invention. 
     In a further embodiment of the present invention, a separate sensor element may also be associated with each item contained in a safe, in a one-to-one configuration, such that an owner may also be notified when one or more specific items have been moved or removed from the safe.  FIG. 4  illustrates one exemplary embodiment of this additional feature as used with a gun vault  40 . As shown, each firearm  42 - i  rests upon an associated sensor element  44 - i , where the plurality of sensors  44  is coupled to control module  12 . For example, pressure sensors may be employed, such that if a firearm is lifted off of its associated pressure sensor, an alarm signal will be transmitted to control module  12 . Other types of sensors (e.g., optic, acoustic, etc. may be used). For example, if firearm  42 - 3  is removed from its location, sensor element  44 - 3  will transmit an alarm signal to control module  12  (specifically identifying the removal of firearm  42 - 2 ). Control module  12  is specifically configured in this case to a processor and memory module  48  that maintains a correspondence between each sensor  44 - i  and the identification of the specific firearm  42 - i  stored at that location. When the alarm signal is received, a look-up is performed and control module  12  sends a message to the owner that “Firearm X” has been removed (where “X” is a definition of the specific firearm). 
     In association with this ability to maintain control of specific items within the safe, it is also possible to include individual locking mechanisms, associated with particular items, where the owner would also need to send a specific control signal to allow a selected item to be removed. As shown in  FIG. 4 , a separate owner-activated locking mechanism  46 - i  is associated with each firearm  42 - i . Therefore, if the owner has previously “approved” for firearm  44 - 2  to be removed by an authorized individual, only that particular firearm will be “unlocked” and mechanism  46 - 2  opened. This additional layer of security prevents an “authorized” person from removing an “unauthorized” item from the safe. 
     While contemplated that this feature would be used in conjunction with the motion/touch/open sensors as discussed above, it is possible to configure a notification and control system that only includes these specific firearm alerts, 
     Indeed, further modifications will also occur to those skilled in the art, where such are considered to fall within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the claims appended hereto.