Patent ID: 7854374

Claim:
A secure mailbox, comprising: an enclosed upper compartment having a plurality of sides forming said enclosed upper compartment: a front access door hinge-ably coupled along a front edge of one of said sides of said upper compartment; a first locking and unlocking mechanism being adapted to lock the front access door to the upper compartment when the front access door is in a closed position: a first unlocking activation mechanism coupled to the first locking and unlocking mechanism adapted to unlock the front access door: an upper rear access door hinge-ably connected along a rear edge of another of said sides of the upper compartment; a second locking and unlocking mechanism being adapted to lock the upper rear access door to said upper compartment when the rear access door is in a closed position; a second unlocking activation mechanism coupled to the second locking and unlocking mechanism adapted to unlock the upper rear access door; an enclosed lower compartment having a plurality of sides forming said enclosed lower compartment, said lower compartment being below the upper compartment, there being at least one trap door allowing ingress from the upper compartment into the lower compartment further comprising a trap door mechanism, the at least one trap door being opened and closed using said trap door mechanism; said lower compartment having a lower access door hinge-ably connected along an edge of one of said sides of the lower compartment; a third locking and unlocking mechanism coupling the lower access door to the lower compartment, the third locking and unlocking mechanism having an unlocking activation mechanism; at least one remote activation means coupled to at least one of said first, second and third unlocking activation mechanisms, said at least one first, second and third unlocking activation means being remotely activated using the at least one remote activation means; wherein the remote activation means comprises a card key system having at least one master card encoded with a plurality of unique identifiers and at least one subordinate card encoded with a subset of the unique identifiers; and a card reader located proximate to the mailbox and coupled to at least one of the locking and unlocking mechanisms, said card reader operable to unlock the door coupled to the locking and unlocking mechanism upon receiving a signal from the master encoded card or subordinate card.